She's A Lady
by Soccer Freak 101
Summary: After Lily thinks that James is stalking her, James decides that, instead of trying to get Lily to fall in love with him, he is instead going to concentrate on being friends with her. My own little version of how Lily finally realizes her feelings for James. Semi-sequel to What Are Friends For.
1. Chapter 1

**She's a Lady** by Forever the Sickest Kids

I'm in love with a girl I hate  
She enjoys pointing out every bad thing about me  
I'm in love with a critic and a skeptic, a traitor  
I'd trade her in a second

She's a backseat driver  
A drama provider  
An instant update of the world  
She's a first-class liar  
A constant forgetter  
She's attractive but bitter

Did you scream enough to make her cry?  
It's a turn around  
Turn around  
Baby, don't return to me  
If you think that I'm not worth your time

She's a lady  
And ladies shouldn't be messed with  
She's a lady  
And ladies shouldn't be messed with

Take off your shoes  
Come in the room  
And baby, let's try not to argue  
Turn out the lights  
Turn on the radio  
How can we fight when I'm too busy loving you?  
I'm too busy loving you  
I'm too busy loving you

Did you scream enough to make her cry?  
It's a turn around  
Turn around  
Baby, don't return to me  
If you think that I'm not worth your time

She's a lady  
And ladies shouldn't be messed with  
She's a lady  
And ladies shouldn't be messed with

Here I am  
There you go again, again  
And we will not ever be 18 again  
Again

And I'm worn out of fighting  
And every night you leave crying  
And I could use some time  
Here I am  
There you go again

So here I am, and I'm dying  
And I'm waiting for you  
Waiting for you  
Come back, come back to me  
And I'll take you gladly  
And I'll take you anyway

Did you scream enough to make her cry?  
It's a turn around  
Turn around  
Baby, don't return to me  
If you think that I'm not worth your time _[x2]_

She's a lady  
And ladies shouldn't be messed with  
She's a lady  
And ladies shouldn't be messed with

_ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff ffffffffffffffff_

Lily Evans took a deep sigh. This was it. The start of a good summer. It wasn't the magical way, but it didn't matter; she'd wanted this since she was a little kid, and now, it was finally happening.

She was going to take driving lessons.

Ever since she had been seven, she had wanted to be behind the wheel of a cute little car. And, after, much convincing of her parents, she was finally here. Even though they'd insisted that she didn't need this since she could aparate places, they agreed that it would be helpful in sticky situations if she couldn't concentrate enough to aparate.

She was sitting in the waiting room. The work-person was talking to someone else who would be joining in their driving lesson. Lily already had a permit, but today was her first driving lesson.

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

The water was falling off of the tip of the water fountain in the size of tear-drops. Hearing the _drip-drip_ of the fountain made Lily feel impatient, like they wouldn't have the time for her to drive a car today.

It was also just an annoying sound.

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

Lily sighed once again. _If that fountain drips one more time—_

_Drip._

Lily closed her eyes tightly and clutched her hands into fists. When she opened her eyes and fists, she was hoping that it would make her feel more relaxed, but the damn fountain wouldn't stop dripping.

Finally, the door opened. A portly old lade stood in the doorway. Her hair was gray and curling, falling past her double chin down to her shoulders. Her skin was wrinkly, and rectangular glasses hung in front of her eyes.

"Ms. Evans, I presume?" she said in a sing-song voice that sounded about to crack.

"Yes, that's me," said Lily, standing up.

"Mr. Potter will be joining us for your lesson today."

_Oh, that's nice—WHAT!_

And there he stood, coming out from his hiding spot behind the lady. He ran a hand through his already messy hair and winked his hazel eyes from behind his circular glasses. His skin was perfectly tanned from the summer, and his lips were formed in the shape of a smile. And not just any smile.

A cocky smile…a _flirting_ smile.

"Come along, then, the car is this way," said the old lady, marking the way. Lily didn't even have time to glance at her nametag; she was too busy glaring at stupid James Potter.

Before Potter could even utter a word out of his mouth, Lily put up a finger and said, "No."

"What's the no for?" said Potter.

"If you're going to ask me out again, the answer's no," said Lily.

Potter looked up at the ceiling and sighed semi-dramatically. "Oh, damn," he said. "And here, I thought we would start kissing."

"Ha-ha," said Lily sarcastically. She started walking towards the lady. "Let's just get this over with."

"Okay then," said Potter, taking a couple of long strides to catch up to Lily. He dangled the keys in front of her face. "But I get to drive first." And he jogged to catch up to the lady, who was now near the car.

"That's not fair!" said Lily before he reached her.

"And why not?" said Potter.

_Because I've wanted to drive ever since I was a little girl and you're just taking these lessons so you can flirt with me some more,_ Lily thought. But, instead, she kept her mouth shut and just shook her head as she caught up.

"Do I have to be in the car while you drive it?" said Lily. "We might get into a car crash. Or you might make it explode."

"Please, if that happens, the chances of anyone remembering are slim," Potter laughed. Lily looked at him quizzically. Potter just rolled his eyes, looked left and right, and then pulled his wand out from his back pocket. Lily's eyes widened. "Don't worry, Lily-Flower. You'll be safe with me."

James jumped into the driver's seat, and Lily just stood, staring at the car, a bit frightened.

The window rolled down slowly. How the lady managed to do it was a mystery to Lily, as roll-down windows take a bit of muscle to get all the way down. "Ms. Evans?" said the lady. Lily managed to get a glance at her nametag and saw that it said Sheryl Peterson. "Are you going to join us?"

Lily closed her eyes and sighed. "Sorry," she said. She opened the back seat door to the black Ford Anglia and sat down.

"Now, Mr. Potter," said Ms. Peterson, smiling. Lily rolled her eyes and almost gagged. That was just like Potter, to charm anyone and get things to go his way. "Put the key into the ignition and we will start our lesson."

"Right away," said Potter, and he jammed the key in quickly. When nothing happened right away, Potter looked a little confused. Lily smirked from the back seat. He caught her eye in the rearview mirror, pursed his lips, and turned the key in the ignition. The motor started running. "Now what?"

Lily let out a big puff of breath and turned to look out the window. She decided to stop listening to what Ms. Peterson had to say. Sure, she was up to drive next, but Ms. Peterson would teach it all over again to her.

Stupid Potter. He just wanted to tease her, flirt with her, and make out with her. He just wanted what many guys at Hogwarts wanted. Of all the girls Potter could have, he picked her, Lily Evans, as a target.

Well, this was one target that was easily missed.

No sooner was Potter driving on the street. His speed limit seemed okay, but Lily kept on catching his eye in the rearview mirror.

"Switch lanes, Mr. Potter," said Ms. Peterson calmly. Potter switched lanes easily.

"You're supposed to put your turn signal on," said Lily. _Moron._

"Oh," said Potter. He turned around in his seat to look at Lily. "Sorry if it bugged you."

"Keep your eyes on the road, you're going to get us killed!" said Lily. Potter rolled his eyes and turned back around.

"Ms. Evans, that was uncalled for!" said Ms. Peterson. "Apologize!"

_How old does she take me for, three?_

"Sorry," Lily mumbled.

"Sorry to whom?"

"I'm sorry, Potter."

"It's rude to call people by their last names, Lily," said Potter arrogantly. He had hit a red light and was looking at her in the rearview mirror.

"Aren't you supposed to be keeping your eyes on the stop lights?" said Lily.

"Apologize correctly, Ms. Evans," said Ms. Peterson, sounding a bit fed up.

"I am sorry, _James_," said Lily sarcastically. Ms. Peterson however didn't catch the sarcasm, and Potter had an amused smirk on his face.

"Ms. Peterson," said Potter. "I think Lily here was being sarcastic with me."

"Well, I will not put up with sarcasm in my car," said Ms. Peterson. Potter started to drive again as the light turned green. "I have a short temper."

_I've noticed._

"Apologize right now, no sarcasm, or I will have Mr. Potter drive you home and you won't get to learn how to drive a car."

_Wait, what? Can she do that?_

"I am sorry, _James_, for being short with you," said Lily. "However, I do think that you should keep your eyes on the road more often, as you are driving."

"Thank you for the tip, dearest Lily," said Potter. "I will take it to heart."

He caught her eye once more in the rearview mirror and didn't remove his gaze until Lily looked away and saw a car nearing in front of them. "James, break!"

"What?" said James, putting his eyes back on the road. He noticed that the car in front of him was going slower than he was and slammed on the breaks, only to notice that the car came to a complete stop instead of stopping in a slow fashion. The car in back had to stop immediately, and the car behind that one hit its bumper into the back, pushing the car forward a tiny bit and making it hit the back of the Ford Anglia barely. However, Lily felt the impact full and lurched forward in her seat.

_Oh, boy. Driving lessons will be ever so fun!_

_ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff fffffffffffffffff_

"Jamesie! Jamesie! Jamesie!"

As James Potter arrived home, Sirius Black came running towards him once he entered the front door.

"Hey, Padfoot," said James.

"How was driving with Evans?" said Sirius.

"Driving is odd, Sirius," said James. "I, for one, would never trust you behind the wheel of a car."

"I would be the best driver in the whole world," said Sirius. "You know it, too. You're just scared to admit that I would be better than you, since I'm already better than you at everything else."

"Sirius," said James. "_I'm_ better than _you_ at everything else."

"Right," said Sirius, slapping James on the back as they started to head up stairs. "Just let yourself think that."

"James?" came a voice from the kitchen. "Is that you?"

"No, Mum, it's a ghost," said James. "A very attractive, very hungry ghost."

Mrs. Potter appeared next to the railing of the stairs. "Well, that's good, because dinner is soon."

"Mashed potatoes and gravy?"

"Of course. What else for my son?"

"Maybe an—"

"Apple pie?"

"You know me so well."

James and Sirius continued to James's room.

"So, was she totally pissed when she saw you?" said Sirius, climbing the ladder on the bed to sit on the top bunk. He and James shared rooms, and instead of buying another bed for Sirius, they just bought a bunk bed. _Evans would probably think this is lame,_ James thought. But he shrugged the thought away from his mind. When Evans falls for him, she's going to fall for every aspect of him, even the dorky ones.

"Yeah," said James, dropping into the navy blue beanbag chair. "It was like there was a tiger behind her eyes."

"Ha-ha," said Sirius. "Tiger-Lily…it sounds familiar."

"Wait…" said James. "Yeah that does sound familiar…what was it in?"

"Is it a flower?"

"Maybe…no! I got it!"

"What is it?"

"It was the…ah…what do Muggles call them? One of the Indians in that Muggle play, Peter Pot."

Sirius looked confused. "You sure it was Peter Pot?"

"Well, what do you think it was?"

"Uh…" Sirius looked like he was trying to think. "Peter Saucepan."

"Maybe it was Peter Wok."

"What's a wok?"

"The Chinese cook on it. It's really cool, Mum's got one downstairs."

"Ooh! I want to see!"

"Not until we figure out who Peter Wok is!"

Sirius groaned. "Are you sure it's not Peter Saucepan? That sounded best to me."

"It could have been anything," said James. "I think the play was about him being a chef or something…"

"Well obviously, his last name is Saucepan," said Sirius, smirking. "Didn't he cook on Neverland or something?"

"Yeah! He cooked on Neverland for the Indians! And…and…uh…didn't he, like, also have those friends or whatever? What were their names again?"

"Wasn't one of them Mick?" said Sirius.

"No, I think it was Mike," said James. "And then there was…I think there was someone named James. Ha-ha, that's my name."

"You prick," said Sirius. "His name was probably Sirius, as James is an unworthy name to be in a play."

"It's a hell of a lot better than having someone named Sirius."

"Well, I like Sirius better than James. More puns are available to make with the name."

James sighed. "Fine, then," he said. "His name was Sirius. Now…there was a girl, wasn't there?"

"Yup," said Sirius. "And her name was Cammie."

"That's the name of your girlfriend, Sirius."

"Well, I can't help it," said Sirius. "I love Cammie."

"You know, I'm actually surprised by you," said James. "You've been dating her for over a year. Slughorn must be, like, a Seer or something."

"Why?"

"Because he was the one who paired you and Cammie together."

"Oh, yeah."

"I don't think her name was Cammie, though," said James. "Something with a W…or maybe a V…"

"Hey, why is a W called a double-U? It's a double-V," said Sirius.

"It can be either a double-U or a double-V, it all depends on how you write out the letter."

"Well, I like double-V better."

"Fine, then. You can call it a double-V for all I care," said James. "I think her name was…Gwendolyn."

Sirius laughed. "That sounds sort of like Wendelin the Weird."

"Ha-ha, yeah," said James.

Sirius seemed so happy now, to finally be away from his mother. Before he moved out of his mother's house and into James's, he would always be so ecstatic about their return to school, and so depressed about going home. James almost laughed at that thought, because now, it was the opposite. Ever since Sirius ran away (but not before 'accidentally' turning Regulus's hair pink) he had been much happier, and even Cammie noticed it.

In fact, the thought of Cammie probably made Sirius even happier. Cammie was Sirius's girlfriend of a little over a year. She was from America, California to be exact. And, if you want to be even more exact, Malibu. Before she had met Sirius, she had been very introverted, not having any friends at all at Hogwarts. Becoming friends with Sirius had been good for her, and then later moving on to a relationship. James didn't even know if Sirius had even done _it_ with her yet. Sirius usually did it with a girl, and then moved on to the next.

Either way, Cammie made Sirius happy, and Mrs. Potter had said it was okay if Cammie came to spend the month before Hogwarts with them, which only made Sirius all the happier.

"What are you staring at?" asked Sirius. "The wall can't be that nice-looking, mate, not unless it had a picture of Lily Evans taped up there. And that would be for your eyes only. I'm taken."

"Cammie's taking the guest bedroom, right?" said James.

"Yeah," said Sirius. "Why?"

James shrugged. "Just wondering. You guys better not screw each other here. Mum would get pissed."

"James, we haven't even given it a second thought," said Sirius. "I know I used to be a manwhore, and I know I almost ended up having a kid my fifth year, but I'm not like that anymore. Cammie is mine."

"What happened to that kid you were supposed to have, again?"

"Lacey had a miscarriage."

"Oh, yeah. You were devastated."

"Hey, easy come, easy go," said Sirius. "I wasn't ready to be a father."

"I'm sure Lacey wasn't ready to be a mother," said James.

"How did the conversation get here, anyways?" said Sirius. "What ever happened to Peter Saucepan and Gwendolyn the Weird?"

James smirked. Only Sirius would try to get the conversation back to that.

"They retired," said James. "Peter Saucepan the Cook couldn't fly around the kitchen anymore."

"Lame."

"Dinner!" Mrs. Potter yelled from downstairs.

"Coming!" James yelled back. Sirius climbed down from the bunk bed and the two filed out of the room.

"Why couldn't he fly around the kitchen anymore?" said Sirius as they reached the bottom step of the stairs and started walking towards the kitchen.

"Because, Peter Saucepan ran out of his magical cooking tools," said James once they entered the kitchen.

"Never!" said Sirius. "Peter Saucepan will always fly!"

"Don't you mean Peter _Pan_?" said Mr. Potter from the table.

"Oh! I love that play!" said Mrs. Potter as she brought the dishes over to the table and set them up nicely. Soon, she sat down. "Why were you two talking about it?"

"Because Sirius wants to become a chef," said James.

Mrs. Potter gave Sirius an odd look. "Sirius, it's not about cooking."

Sirius looked confused. "But his name is Peter _Pan_!"

"Yes, but…he flies," said Mrs. Potter. "He flies around Neverland and fights off pirates and Indians with the Lost Boys and Michael, John, and Wendy."

"I thought his name was James," James grumbled as he served himself some mashed potatoes.

"I thought we agreed that his name was Sirius," said Sirius. "And what ever happened to Gwendolyn?"

"Her name's Wendy," said Mrs. Potter. She glanced at Mr. Potter as if to say, "Only James and Sirius would ever get into this conversation."

Mr. Potter gave her a look that said, "Too right you are."


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, as there was no driving lesson, Lily sat at the table, looking through the day's mail. There was a thick envelope, and Lily knew exactly what it was. She wasn't going to open it, because her parents probably wanted to prize the moment and take a picture of the letter. Yes, Lily knew exactly what it was.

Petunia's wedding invitation. Notice how, on the back, it said _To Mr. and Mrs. Evans_ with no _Lily Evans_ included.

"It's here, Mum," Lily announced lazily. Why her sister, the stick-skinny, horse-faced Petunia Evans was getting married to the very large, walrus sized—wait, that's an understatement…whale sized—Vernon Dursley, she had no idea. However, she was not excited about being Vernon's half-sister. It would be worse than driving lessons with Potter, that was for sure.

"It is?" said Mrs. Evans from upstairs. After Lily reassured her it was, Mr. and Mrs. Evans made their way down the stairs. "Ooh! My little Tuney!"

Mr. Evans held the camera. Lily had been right.

"How about you open it, dear," said Mrs. Evans. "I know how much you're looking forward to their wedding."

_Only you would know, Mum,_ Lily thought. She tore open the envelope rather roughly and a large envelope came out, decorated all around with lace and paper flowers. _Only Petunia._

"Hold it up, Lily," said Mrs. Evans. "Your father wants to take a picture."

Lily held it up and faked a smile while her father took pictures of it from all around.

"Perfect!" said Mrs. Evans. "That will be this year's Christmas card!"

"Mum, it's not winter," said Lily. "It's not even autumn."

"Yes, but you're never here to take pictures of," said Mrs. Evans. "We can't even take a family photo anymore."

"Just tape a picture of me in," said Lily.

"It's not the same," said Mr. Evans.

Lily was not in a mood to talk to her parents. She was in a stubborn mood, which made her angry, which made her tell her parents that she was going to go take a walk and leave the house for a while.

With her hands in her pockets, she began her walk around the neighborhood. The houses were so…clean. And ordinary. Lily wasn't too much of a fan of ordinary. She went to a Wizarding school called Hogwarts and could perform magic while her parents were big fans of being like other people.

_They're just like Petunia, they are._

Indeed, Petunia liked things ordinary as well. She wanted to live an ordinary life that the average human would live, with a moderately nice house and a son. Her husband would make money, sure, and they would be able to get whatever they wanted and needed. And with that long, giraffe-like neck of hers, she would be able to spy on her neighbors, see if they were weird or un-ordinary or _freaks_, like Lily.

Somehow, Lily ended up at the park that she and Petunia used to play at when they were younger, when they used to get along. Before Severus came into the picture.

_Was it even worth it?_

For some reason, she was asking herself that very question. Was it worth it to go to Hogwarts with Severus and lose Petunia in the process? Was it worth it to be known as a freak to everyone? And she had lost Severus her fifth year…what if she lost everyone else this year? What if she even lost Cammie?

_No, _she told herself. _I won't lose everybody, and I won't ever lose Cammie. _

Cammie was her best friend in the whole wide world, other than Alice, of course. Sure, Cammie was the girlfriend of Sirius Black, but she was the sweetest, nicest, most sincere person that Lily had ever met. She didn't even know why Cammie was friends with Sirius Black.

One of the swings at the park was dangling on one chain instead of two. It gave Lily a sense of unease, even though the tall kid up the street probably did it to show off how cool he was to his friends.

A cool wind blew through the air. Lily shivered and wrapped her jacket closer around herself.

She continued walking and thinking. It was all Severus's fault, it was. All Lily had done was stand up for him. That's all, just try to protect her best friend from stupid James Potter and the Marauders. But, no, Severus decided he didn't need her help, decided to try and act tough, and then he called her a…Lily couldn't even say it in her mind. He called her _that awful word_, and then begged for her forgiveness late that night.

Well, Lily wasn't going to give it to him. She wasn't going to give him anything anymore.

But why did Severus have to try to act tough? Lily half-wished that Severus would disappear, but also half-wished that he would do something to make up for all the bad things he had done to her.

For some reason, Lily now found herself on Spinner's End, gazing up at Severus's house. Indeed, she had never been inside, as Severus's parents weren't the nicest of people. Lily vaguely remembered how Severus's father had been an alcoholic, and his mother had been too scared to stand up to him.

There was a face in the window. The black hair was all too familiar to Lily. He was staring out at her, watching to see what she would do. Lily almost couldn't move, just a bit too mesmerized by him standing there.

After thirty seconds, Lily got angry, and turned her back on him, and started to walk away. She could almost feel the hurt in his eyes gazing at her retreating back. She turned around once again, flipped him off, and screamed, "Fuck you!"

At least she felt a little better.

Once she was outside of her own house, she saw an owl perched on the roof next to her window. She recognized the owl at once and ran inside to her room.

She let the owl in and untied the letter from its leg. Aha! She was right! It was from Cammie!

_Hey, Lils!_

_ Yeah, my parents are okay. They're a bit worried about me staying with Sirius and James, though. I bet they'd rather me stay with you._

_ I'm so excited to see you again! God, it's been so long! You won't believe what I did to my hair! I died it black!_

_ Ha-ha. Just kidding. I would have loved to see your reaction to that, though._

_ Call me later, okay? I know it costs money for over-sees calls and all that crap, but I haven't heard your voice in forever. _

_ Crap, now I sound like some mushy lover. Hope you don't think I'm a lesbian now. Ha-ha. _

_ See you soon. Call me. You know my number. _

_ Cammie. _

Almost immediately, Lily picked up the phone and dialed Cammie's number. Cammie was right—it had been too long.

"Legront residence," Lily heard the voice of Cammie's father.

"Hi, Mr. Legront. It's Lily. Is Cammie there?"

"Sure. Hold on a second, Lily. Cammie!"

No sooner had Cammie picked up the phone. "Lily!"

"Cammie!"

"Hope you don't mind, Casey is here."

"Not at all. Hi, Casey."

"Hey, Lily."

Lily had met Casey on one occasion. Last summer, the summer before sixth year, Lily had visited Cammie in California and met all of Cammie's Muggle friends. Casey, however, had been the only one who knew about magic.

"You'll never guess who I just saw," said Lily.

"Oh, God," said Cammie. "You didn't just go visit Snape, did you?" Lily was quiet. "Crap, Lily! Don't you get it? He's a future Death Eater! He's probably already working for You-Know-Who."

"I didn't visit him," said Lily. "I was taking a walk and I accidentally went to Spinner's End. And he was just staring at me through his window."

"I hope you cussed him out," came Casey's voice.

"A little," said Lily, shrugging even though they couldn't see the gesture in California. "I flipped him off and shouted 'fuck you.'"

"Go Lily!"

"You're okay, though, right?" said Cammie. "I mean, he used to be your best friend."

"I got over it." _You liar._ "Looking forward to coming here?"

"Yeah," said Cammie. "But I'll miss my family and, of course, Casey here."

"Well, of course you'll miss me," said Casey. "I'm me. And I'm incredibly sexy. I bet I'm sexier than Sirius."

"Oh, sorry," said Cammie. "I'm going to have to disagree with that."

"Wow, way to offend me," said Casey pretending to cry. "How dare you insult my sexiness! Sirius is probably nothing compared to me!"

"Hey, why were you taking a walk, anyways?" said Cammie. "Death Eaters could have found you."

"Just because I'm a Muggle-born doesn't mean that the Death Eaters are specifically after me," said Lily. "And you take walks in Malibu. Why aren't you watching your back?"

"Because it's Malibu," said Cammie. "You-Know-Who hasn't really reached the states yet. At most he has one Death Eater in all of Cali."

"You're lucky," said Lily. "Do your parents know about him?"

"What do you think I am, stupid?" said Cammie. "If they knew, they wouldn't let me out of the house at all! What, do your parents know?"

"Yeah, right," said Lily. "In their perfectly ordinary life, a dark wizard who wants to kill all Muggle-borns? I don't think I'm going to tell them. At least not for a while."

"Oh! Lily! How's driving lessons?" Casey said. Lily groaned. "That bad?"

"Even worse," said Lily. "Potter decided to take driving lessons too. And he's taking them with me."

"No!" said Casey.

"Lily, James isn't that bad," said Cammie.

"Says the girlfriend of his best friend," said Lily.

"She's got a point," said Casey.

"Lily? Are you on the phone?" came her dad's voice from downstairs.

"Yes," Lily called back.

"Can you get off? I need to make an important business call."

Lily sighed. "Sorry, Cammie, Casey, I have to go."

"See you in a week!" said Cammie.

"Miss you, Lily, see you…I don't know when!" said Casey.

And the tone went dead.

_ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff fffffffffff_

A week passed, with driving lessons becoming annoying and Potter becoming even more annoying. Only in Lily's eyes, though. She was grumpier than she usually was in the summer; these were her only months away from the damn nuisance.

Cammie's flight was due to land at the London Heathrow Airport in the next five minutes, where Lily was waiting for her with her parents. They had made an agreement with the Potter's and, much to Black's unhappiness, Cammie was going to stay with Lily for a week before going to stay at the Potter's.

"I can't believe her parents are letting her stay with her boyfriend," Mrs. Evans said to Mr. Evans. "Completely ridiculous."

"She's only seventeen," said Mr. Evans. "Don't they worry?"

"Mum, Dad, they've been together for long over a year," said Lily. "Relax." _Even though I'd much rather Cammie just say with me for the month instead. Stupid Sirius. _

"Well, we're just saying," said Mr. Evans. "If you wanted to go stay with your boyfriend in America, we would really have some problems."

"They haven't seen each other in months, they miss each other," Lily mumbled.

"And why are we dropping her off at her boyfriend's friend's house?"

"I don't know. There's a weird situation going on, I think."

"Why don't you know?" Mrs. Evans asked. "Aren't you friends with your best friend's boyfriend?"

"I mean…we're acquaintances."

"LILY!" someone screamed. Lily looked up to see Cammie, who was running over to hug her. "My plane landed a few minutes early! Merlin, I've missed you!"

"Cammie!" Lily hugged her back tightly. "Ugh, I've missed you too!"

"Hi Mr. Evans, Mrs. Evans," said Cammie politely to Lily's parents.

"Hi Cammie," said Mrs. Evans. "It's so nice to see you again."

"It's lovely to see you again, too," said Cammie, her face emanating with joy. She turned back to Lily. "Come on, let's get to baggage claim."

The two started walking towards the luggage belts. "Did you hear Lacey got pregnant again?" said Lily.

"What?" Cammie exclaimed. "No! Wait, with who?"

"Ben. Of course. School whores work together, and all."

"Typical. How'd you find out?"

"She confided in Natalie, who can't keep a secret to save her life. I got the letter about it a few days ago. She's having twins."

"Oh, Lacey," said Cammie.

"Well, hey, at least it's not Sirius's," said Lily, smirking at Cammie, who laughed.

"That would have just made this whole relationship a tad awkward," she said. "Oh, did I tell you about Casey's old boyfriend? I think you met him last summer. Jim."

"Oh, yeah, I remember him. No, what's going on?"

"He keeps calling her house phone drunk at three in the morning asking for her to come over."

"Ooh, that's weird."

Cammie laughed. "Yeah, she's having some trouble keeping her parents from picking up the booty-calls."

"She's not going over, though, is she?"

"No, of course not! Not after he cheated on her and ended their relationship in the first place. She doesn't put up with players like him. Oh! There's my trunk!"

Lily helped Cammie get it off of the luggage belt, and Cammie laughed as they started carrying it to Lily's car.

"I don't like trunks," said Cammie. "Like, they're cool looking and all, but extremely inconvenient for traveling. Stupid Hogwarts."

Lily laughed as they continued to heave the trunk across the street. When they finally reached the car, Mr. Evans opened the trunk so they could jam the luggage in. The four of them got into the car and started on their drive.

"So, Cammie," said Mrs. Evans. "How was California?"

"Beautiful," said Cammie, looking outside and frowning at the gloomy weather. "There was so much sun, and the beach was incredible this year."

"That's good," said Mrs. Evans. "Are you going to miss it for the upcoming school year?"

"Oh, most definitely," said Cammie, giving another look out the window and then concentrating on Lily. "So, when's the wedding?"

"Three weeks," Lily grumbled.

"We've already bought her dress," said Mrs. Evans proudly. Lily looked at Cammie and gagged. Cammie shrugged as if to say, "What can you do?"

Once they reached Lily's house, Lily and Cammie raced up to Lily's room and flopped down on her bed. Cammie stretched and laughed. "Hope you're ready, because I'm not used to the time difference yet."

"How long is the time difference again?" asked Lily.

"Eight hours."

"Joy. You're going to be up until eight in the morning, then, I presume?"

Cammie laughed. "You presume? My, my, Lily, what big vocabulary!"

"Ugh, that stupid driving instructor has gotten to me," Lily grumbled.

"Yeah, Sirius said that James has been charming the pants off that lady," said Cammie, laughing.

_Ugh. Stupid Potter_.

"By the way, you didn't get to finish telling me how amazing your driving lessons with James are," said Cammie. "So, please, do tell. I'll be up for a while, anyways."

Lily rolled her eyes and began the story, beginning their soon-to-end week before Cammie went to stay with Sirius.

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Cammie was due to arrive any minute. Sirius was sitting at the bottom of the stairs at Potter Manor, his knees bouncing up and down from excitement, as they had been for the past hour and a half.

"Sirius, she'll get here when she gets here," said James, making his way down the stairs.

"She might arrive early," said Sirius.

"Or she might arrive on time."

"Lily's coming with her."

James ran his hand through his hair and sat down on the stairs next to Sirius.

"This is the year, I swear it is," said James. "Lily is going to fall for me."

Sirius smirked, his legs still bouncing. "You've said that every year, Prongs."

"Well, hey, if it's not this year, than what year is it going to be?"

"Uh…never?"

"Shut up, Padfoot."

"Just think about it," said Sirius, his body movements stopping suddenly as he turned to look at James. "Maybe…maybe you two aren't meant for each other. Maybe she's meant for the Head Boy of this year. Merlin knows she's going to be the Head Girl. And all you're going to be is the Quidditch Captain."

"You're such an asshole, Padfoot," said James angrily. "We're meant for each other. You'll see."

"Boys!" Mrs. Potter yelled from the kitchen. She walked into the main entrance hall with two letters in hand. She handed both the letters to James and Sirius. "Hogwarts letters just arrived."

Sirius opened his quickly, scanned it through, and pocketed it as Mrs. Potter walked away. James, however, was weighing his. It was heavier than usual, he noticed, and he had been Quidditch Captain last year as well, so he knew the exact weight the letter should have been.

"What's taking you so long, Prongs?" asked Sirius. "Just open the damn thing already."

James rolled his eyes and dumped the contents of the letter onto his outstretched hand. Two badges fell out, not just the one that James had known was coming, but two. He fingered the most familiar one with his other hand and held it in front of his eyes, smiling at his red-and-gold Quidditch Captain badge. And then, he picked up the other badge, frowning slightly as he saw the HB placed on top of the red-and-gold badge, a lion in the background of the badge as well.

"Bloody hell," said Sirius, looking at the badge. "You've got to be kidding me!"

James held it up, smiling. "This is definitely a good sign."

"According to whom?"

"To you, actually," said James. "You just said, 'maybe she's meant for the Head Boy'."

Sirius just stared in shock for a few moments. "You traitor!" he finally yelled. "Who's going to pull the biggest prank at Hogwarts with me this year?"

"Oh, come off it," said James. "Now that I'm on the other side, I can help us get away with it. I can vouch for us."

It took Sirius a minute, but once he finally understood, he hugged James.

"I love you, you amazing stag, you awesome Chaser, you…"

"Stop being gay, Padfoot," said James, shoving him off of him just as the doorbell rung.

"Cammie!" Sirius yelled as he ran to open the door. Cammie was standing in the entrance, just as beautiful as the last time Sirius had seen her, her trunk sitting behind her.

"Sirius!" Cammie said, dropping her luggage and hugging him, her arms over his shoulders and around his neck, his arms around her waist. He held her tightly and kissed the top of her head. Cammie moved her head up and met his lips with hers. Lily, who was standing in the doorway, invited herself into the house and tried not to watch. James came and put his arm around her shoulders.

"Soon, that will be you and me," he said. "Bet you can't wait."

"Oh, I bet I can," said Lily.

"Want to practice?" said James, puckering his lips.

"The day I kiss you will be the day that hell freezes over," said Lily, pushing his arm off of her shoulder.

"You know, I never saw hell freezing over as a bad thing," said James. "I mean, it's hell, isn't it? No one actually thinks of hell as a good thing." Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. The first day Cammie and Sirius met, Cammie couldn't stand him. Now look at them."

"That's different," said Lily. "They had chemistry."

"Actually, it was potions, but chemistry's close, I guess."

"Oh, shut it."

"Well, I bet we're going to have chemistry soon, or potions, whatever you prefer," said James, taking out from his pocket his Head Boy badge. "Look what I got promoted to this year."

Lily stared at the badge in shock. The Head Boy of this year was supposed to be Emmett Freedman, and Lily was so looking forward to getting to spend more time with him. This was obviously a joke.

"Who in their right mind would make you Head Boy?" asked Lily.

James shrugged and put it back into his pocket. "Obviously, Dumbledore thinks I'm special."

"You're special, all right," Lily grumbled. "What about Emmett? You must've tricked him out of it or something."

"Emmett?" said James. "You mean that Ravenclaw, Emmett Freedman? Oh, come on, Lily, the guy's a dumb ass."

"If he was a dumb ass, he wouldn't be in Ravenclaw," said Lily.

"Touché, Jamesie," said Sirius. He and Cammie had stopped kissing and decided to join in the conversation. "Cammie, Prongs here has just been made Head Boy."

"You're joking," said Cammie, almost snorting into her hand. "James? Head Boy? Yeah, right."

"He wasn't even a prefect!" said Lily miserably.

"Dumbledore must really like me," said James, smiling as he looked at his Head Boy badge once again.

A car honked from outside before Lily could come up with a retort. Cammie gave her a huge hug. "I'll see you soon!"

"See you!"

As Lily was walking back to the car, James hollered after her, "And I'll see you at driving lessons!"

Lily groaned as she climbed into the backseat and her parents drove away.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey everyone! So, sorry if this has been spamming your e-mails. This is basically what happened: for a few years, I decided to stop writing fanfiction because I was going to college and wanted to work on getting good grades. However, while being at college, I've had the worst writers block and it's been absolutely terrible. So finally, after miserably dealing with it and writing the worst short stories for my creative writing classes, I started rereading the Harry Potter series and realized that starting to write fanfiction again was going to help me with my writers block, as well as stop me from feeling awful about not writing anything anymore. I've completely edited chapters one and two, and added three more chapters that I've actually had for a while and didn't do anything with. I hope everyone enjoys this. **

**I've also decided that, during my summer vacation, I'm going to go back and completely edit _What Are Friends For_, so if you read my prequel to this story, stay tuned. I may not have written a whole lot these past few years, but taking creative writing classes has helped me a lot. **

**Enjoy!**

Lily groaned. Groaning seemed to be her new thing, like…uh…making cookies! Yes, Lily definitely loved to make cookies. She absolutely hated making dinner, breakfast, lunch, or any kind of dessert except for cookies. Cookies were her thing, just like groaning.

She was in the back seat of the car again, with Potter at the wheel and Ms. Peterson gawking at him as though he were a male model. Please. James, a male model? Get a grip.

_Although, he does have a nice body build…wait, Lily, what the HELL are you thinking?!_

To make time go by faster, she hit her head against the window.

"Evans, you're going to get a concussion soon if you keep that up," said Potter.

"I'd rather have a concussion than be anywhere near you," Lily mumbled, unheard by Ms. Peterson since she was hard of hearing. So, Lily continued to hit her head repeatedly.

"Ms. Evans, I'm going to have to ask that you stop that," said Ms. Peterson. "I don't think I've ever had someone as un-ladylike as you."

_Yes, because that's something you always say to someone who has their parents paying you to teach them how to drive. Let's all insult the students!_

Lily decided to stop, however. Potter continued glancing at her occasionally from the rearview mirror. And, by occasionally, it was really every two seconds and throughout stoplights and stop signs.

Finally, Ms. Peterson said, "That will be all for today, Mr. Potter. Pull over right here, that's it. Ms. Evans, it will be your turn."

Lily got out of the car and walked over to where Potter was still sitting in the spot, taking his time to unbuckle his seatbelt and take the keys out of the ignition. Then, he opened the door and ran a hand through his messy hair. _Stupid Quidditch player. _

And then, as Potter got up, he pretended to bump into Lily. "Oh, sorry, Lils," he said, brushing against her shoulder as he made his way past her.

'_Sorry' my ass. _

Lily climbed into the drivers' seat, fixed her rearview mirror, and put the keys into the ignition. Finally, it was her turn to drive like a sane person, unlike Potter who drove like a maniac and was still treated like the teacher's pet by Ms. Peterson.

As Lily eased out onto the road, she felt hot breath on her neck. She checked her rearview mirror to see Potter right there. She pretended she didn't feel anything.

Then, he was breathing in her ear.

Lily tried to shrug it off, but he was still there.

"Stop at the red light, Lils," Potter breathed.

Lily turned around instantly, ready to bitch slap him, and accidentally slammed on the breaks. The car from behind them hit them hard.

"Miss Evans!" said Ms. Peterson. "What are you doing? You're going to get us killed!"

"I'll tell you what's going on," said Lily, trying to take deep breaths through her teeth. "Potter back there keeps breathing in my ear and on my neck!"

"I did no such thing," said Potter innocently.

"Right, because I slammed on the breaks for no reason!"

"Enough!" said Ms. Peterson. "Miss Evans, drive us back to the driving institute. You are hereby banned from having driving lessons. You're out of control!"

"I wouldn't be out of control if I'd had my way and had private lessons!" said Lily. "Potter is in love with me and trying to win me over by sharing lessons!"

"I won't take any accusations! Drive us, now!"

"My parents are paying you for this!"

"You will have to find another place then."

Lily groaned once more and, with Potter smiling angelically from the backseat, she slowly drove back, plotting against Potter with every passing minute.

_ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff fffffffffffffffffffff_

"You got Lily kicked out of driving lessons?" Cammie was shocked. "You know she's been waiting to drive since she was, like, six, right?"

"For the record, I didn't know whispering what to do in her ears would cause a panic attack," said James.

James, Sirius, and Cammie were all hanging out in James's room. Sirius already shared the room with James, and Cammie had the room across the hall, but James's room was dubbed the hang out place. So, because of that, Cammie was sitting next to Sirius on the floor, both of them leaning against the wall, while James was pacing and telling the story.

"Prongs, that's not the way to go," said Sirius. "If Lily really wanted this, you're going to have hell to pay at Hogwarts."

"More like Diagon Alley," said Cammie. "I told Lily I would meet up with her there."

"Is this just an excuse not to go shopping with your boyfriend?" Sirius mock-accused.

"No, I think that Lily just needs some girl-time," said Cammie. "I mean, she's still not over that whole Snape thing."

"That was Evans's own fault," said James. "She should've known that he's the future Death Eater of Britain, it's no wonder he called her a…a you-know-what!"

It was quiet for a moment.

"It's still hell to pay at Diagon Alley," said Sirius. "You're in for it, mate."

"Thanks for being supportive," said James sarcastically.

"It's what I'm here for."

_ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff ffffffffffffffffffffff_

"LILY!"

Lily mumbled incoherently.

"LILY, IT'S TIME TO GET UP!"

"It's too early," Lily mumbled again. "Stop yelling…"

There was a loud pounding on her door.

"Go away," Lily murmured, turning over in her bed and holding her pillow over her ears.

The door opened and, before Lily knew what was happening, her covers were ripped off of her.

"Mum, go away!" Lily shouted, but was replied to in laughter. She opened her eyes to see Cammie standing there. "Cammie?"

"Hey, Lils," said Cammie. "Mr. Potter had the Ministry make it so the Floo-network would work from their house here. I decided to pop in."

"This early?"

"It's eleven," said Cammie, smirking. "Come on, we're going to Diagon Alley, remember?"

"Oh…right," said Lily, getting out of bed. "Sorry, I was up late last night…"

"Let me guess," said Cammie. "Petunia came over, right?"

"Yes. And her nundu of a fiancé."

"Nundu?"

"Giant leopard that lives in East Africa, whose breath causes disease virulent enough to eliminate entire villages."

"You could have just said whale, that would've worked."

"Yes, but this man probably could take out entire villages."

Cammie laughed. "Yeah, I know. Come on, get ready, I want to get there early. Besides, James and Sirius want to check out the Quidditch store."

Lily scowled at Potter's name, and Cammie laughed again. "Oh, come on, Lils. You can't still be mad about the driving thing."

"Oh, yes I can."

"He was just trying to be nice," said Cammie. "Why don't you give him a chance—"

"That's something that will never happen."

Cammie sighed exasperatedly and rolled her eyes. "Fine. Whatever. But, seriously, get dressed. We're leaving soon."

Lily groaned. "Fine," she muttered, getting out of her bed and walking into her bathroom.

It took a lazy half hour for Lily to get ready, with Cammie joking around and making stupid comments the entire time. Lily even let Cammie pick out her outfit, which consisted of jeans and a purple t-shirt. "No way are you going to wear a cloak there," Cammie had said. "I'm not, and neither are you. We'll stick out together."

As most Muggle-borns do, Lily hated the Floo network. So did Cammie. When it came time to leave for Diagon Alley, Lily groaned. "Do we have to?"

"Merlin, you're such a crybaby today," said Cammie. Lily smirked. Cammie's British accent had fully come back. "I hate it too but, really, you don't have a broom, and neither of us can apparate yet."

"I can."

"Yeah, well, I can't until December, so we're Flooing."

"Ugh. Fine."

Lily went first, and then Cammie. Once they arrived in Flourish and Blotts, Cammie immediately dragged Lily over to the Quidditch Store, where Lily saw James and Sirius.

"Honestly, Lily," said Cammie before they made their way over to the two boys. "If you groan one more time today, as I can see it coming, I'm going to slap you."

To suppress her groan, Lily sighed, and the two walked in. Sirius kissed Cammie's cheek and took her hand. As her boyfriend, he was a little overprotective of her. Not that he didn't trust her, of course, but that he didn't trust any other guys out there. He wanted them all to know that he was her boyfriend, and that he would gladly kick their ass if they thought otherwise.

Another reason Lily didn't want to go. The sight of Cammie and Sirius made her gag.

She would be the third wheel. Why didn't she think about inviting Alice? That would have been so much better. At least then she would have someone to talk to that wasn't trying to hit on her, wasn't being overprotective of his girlfriend, and wasn't being all cuddly with her boyfriend.

Stupid Lily. Now she had to spend the entire day in Diagon Alley being ignored. Of course, not that Potter would ignore her.

"Hey, you look kind of down today, Evans," said Potter, walking over to her. "What's up?"

"The ceiling?" said Lily. To be honest, she wasn't in the mood to deal with Potter today. After having to deal with Petunia and Vernon last night, she was on edge. If he said anything to her today that pissed her off, oh, boy, he would get it.

Potter raised one of his eyebrows. Damn, how badly Lily wished she could do that. Then at least she would be able to do something cool. Everyone Lily knew had some weird thing they could do, even if it was creepy. Petunia was triple jointed. Cammie could pop her thumb in and out. And what could she do? Absolutely nothing.

"Funny," said Potter humorlessly. "And to think, this entire time, I thought it was the sky."

"Oh, it's above the ceiling," said Lily. "If you really want to see it, how about you walk outside and go away?"

"What a great mood you're in," said Potter sarcastically.

"Observant, are we?"

"What's up with you?" He seemed to be getting angry really fast.

"Nothing, okay?" said Lily. "I act like this every time I'm around you. What, aren't you used to it yet?"

"You just don't want to be here, do you?"

"Nope."

Potter smirked. "Sucks for you then."

_I'm not in the mood to deal with your crap right now._ "You should be somewhat sympathetic to me, at least. I'm, like, the third wheel out of this group."

"More like fourth wheel," said Potter. "But, hey, who's counting?"

"Apparently you, smart ass."

"Was that an insult or a compliment? Because I like being called smart."

"Well, you know what an ass is, right? Because that, in no way, was a compliment."

"Yeah, but I can take it as one."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Your choice. I don't give a shit."

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"Why is Lily so down?" Sirius asked Cammie later that day, while they had some alone time in Flourish and Blotts.

"Well, she's not exactly the biggest fan of you or James, is she?" said Cammie, smirking. "Come on, she doesn't want to be here."

"Then why'd you invite her?"

"I felt bad," she admitted, shrugging. "I only stayed with her for a week and I'm staying with you and James for a month. I need to at least spend some time with my best friend."

"You're confusing," said Sirius. "You want to spend time with your best friend and yet, here we are, in Flourish and Blotts, walking around alone."

As Cammie realized this, she groaned. "Fuck," she muttered. "I'm such a lousy friend. I should have realized that."

"Relax, babe," said Sirius, kissing her forehead. "You were trying to be the good friend."

"Do you mind if I…" Cammie started, and Sirius just laughed and nodded his head as she left. Finding her way over to Lily was difficult, since she had been residing in the least crowded part of the store. "Avoiding James?"

Lily rolled her eyes as she looked up from the book. She was sitting in the corner, reading. "You know me too well."

"Yeah, I'm just smart," said Cammie, shrugging as she made her way to sit down next to Lily. "Sorry if inviting you made it, I don't know, awkward or anything."

Lily shook her head. "Relax, Cammie. I'm not mad."

"Are you sure? Because I feel kind of like a bitch."

"You always think down on yourself. That's what four years alone gets you."

"Oh, shut up. I've been trying to forget those four years."

They laughed. "Yeah, not the best school memories, huh?" said Lily.

"Well, I had better grades than I do now."

"Yeah, right. You still get straight O's and E's."

"It's hard. I have to keep telling Sirius to go away while I'm studying. He's like a fly."

"A fly you're in love with," said Lily, sticking her tongue out at Cammie, who laughed and shrugged. "Whatever. Hey, want to go get some new robes with me? Mine are all awkward fitting now. So, either I grew, or I gained some weight."

"You should go running with me!" Cammie immediately said. "Personally, I don't think you look like you've gained any weight, but if you think you think you did, let's go running when we get back to Hogwarts!"

"Cam, I haven't run since I was ten and played football."

Cammie looked confused for a second. "Oh, right!" she finally said. "Soccer is football here. You don't look like you'd be much of a soc—I mean, football player, though."

"Yeah, I wasn't. I signed up for one season and quit. And that was the last time I've run."

Cammie smiled. "Whatever. No one said you have to run with me. Besides, walking up all those stairs at Hogwarts is exercise enough."

The two exited Flourish and Blotts and started walking to Madam Malkin's, talking about everything that was new since the past two weeks they'd seen each other last.

"I've found a running route at James's house," Cammie said. "Around his neighborhood twice is about two miles, and then some lunges up the hill. It's so much nicer, jogging here than in Malibu. At least it's cold here. I'd be sweating just walking outside back home."

"When do you do this?" asked Lily in amazement. "Honestly. I would have thought Sirius would have you pent up or something."

"I go early in the morning," she said, shrugging. "It's colder, so when I start to get really hot, it's fine. And then I just go back and take a shower, let my hair dry, and it's all good. I'm back before Sirius and James even wake up."

"Don't you hate getting up early though?" Lily asked. "I mean, really. How late do you even stay up?"

"It depends. On nights where James falls asleep early and Sirius wants to talk to me or have some alone time or whatever, I stay up later, until like one or two, but most nights I tell Sirius I have to be asleep by eleven, and then I go running at seven."

"Oh. That's not too bad."

"Yeah, and Mrs. Potter's always awake. She's so sweet, always making me a cup of coffee when I get back. Sirius was right, caffeine is your best friend."

"Caffeine's probably the worst drug there is."

"That's probably true, but as long as it's not illegal, I'm fine."

Lily laughed. "Whatever. Have you been playing a lot of Quidditch, too?"

Cammie rolled her eyes. "James makes me. He doesn't want me doing badly my last year at Hogwarts. He's just happy I run in the morning. I've made him come with me a couple times, too. It's all good. Have you seen Alice lately?"

"I wish," Lily grumbled. "She's been on vacation in Australia, just got back three days ago, and I haven't had a chance to see her, what with Petunia and everything. So mostly I've just been hanging with my Muggle neighbors. They're all still really nice to me."

"That's good," said Cammie. "It's so difficult talking to them, though."

"I know! I can never tell them anything. It's annoying."

"Exactly!"

Once they walked into the store, they were comparing stories of their Muggle friends while Madam Malkin started fitting Lily. However, their conversation was cut short when Potter and Sirius walked in. Lily suppressed a groan, mostly to please Cammie. Was Sirius really that desperate to be with Cammie all the time, or was it just so crucial to James to flirt with her?

Every single fucking time.

"Oh, sorry," Sirius immediately said. "James just wanted new robes."

Lily had admitted many times to herself that Sirius had changed so much, all for the better. Before being with Cammie, he had started to become a more thoughtful person, and now that they were together, he was doing better in school and even became more polite to others, even to a few of the teachers. It still sometimes caught Lily by surprise the amount of maturity he had gained, and the amount of respect he had for Cammie. But she just wanted some damn time away from the two.

But she decided it was her turn to attempt to be nice.

"No, it's fine," said Lily, trying her hardest to be polite. "You guys don't have to leave."

Cammie looked uncertain. "Are you sure, Lils?"

_No. _"Yeah. Don't worry about me. If you need new robes, you need new robes. Nothing you can do." _Unless Potter purposefully stalked me here._

Madam Malkin started fitting Potter as well. "So, Lily, having fun yet?" he asked.

"I was," said Lily, shrugging. She didn't care what she said to him anymore, not even bothering with her fake politeness. They could probably all tell she didn't really mean it, anyways. And Cammie and Sirius were talking again, not even paying attention.

"But then I came and made it better," said Potter arrogantly. "Of course."

"I never said that."

"You implied it."

_Really now? _"Sure, whatever."

"Sure? You don't seem so sure. You seem unsure."

"Right, because you completely understand me."

"Well, of course."

Lily laughed hollowly. "For someone that has been stalking me for the past, oh, I don't know, five years at Hogwarts, you barely know anything about me."

"It's been five years already?" said Potter, looking up at the ceiling wonderingly. "Damn, that's long. Why aren't we going out already?"

"Because you're an annoying prick."

"You're the only one that thinks so."

"I'm the only one you stalk nonstop. I have a reason to think that."

Potter groaned. "Come on, Evans, give me a chance. We don't have to go out, or even be friends. How about…we'll be on a first name basis? You'll be Lily and I'll be James."

He held out his hand from under the robe he was trying on. Lily looked at it uncertainly. "Oh, fine," she finally said, putting her hand out to shake it. It was too far away, though, so she had to lean out. She fell off the stool and onto the ground, the pins where the robe was being fitted sticking into her body.

_Wow. Great way to start off a first name basis. _


	4. Chapter 4

It was the night before the train left for Hogwarts, and all Cammie could do was lie awake in her bed and think. The last train ride to Hogwarts on the first of September, starting off her seventh and final year. How come, instead of feeling as though everything had finally come together, she felt as though everything were a mess?

Why couldn't she sleep? She'd never had a problem before now. And if she had, it had been because she was dreading the school year, but she hasn't been dreading the school year for two years now. In fact, she had started to look forward to it.

She kept shutting her eyes, hoping to force herself into a deep sleep. But her eyelids didn't feel heavy to stay closed. Instead, they felt so light that they wanted to stay open for a while. So what was there to do while she attempted to sleep?

It wasn't as if she even had anything to think about. She had absolutely no idea why she felt as though everything were a mess.

She got out of her bed and walked out of her room, down the hallway, and into James's room, where James was successfully asleep and snoring. How Cammie envied James sometimes. Whenever he wanted to sleep, he could drop down anywhere and just sleep. Cammie was the exact opposite. She had nightly rituals she did before sleeping. And, even though she sounded like a dork, when she didn't do them, she couldn't sleep.

But she had done all her nightly rituals, so there was no other reason that she was being an insomniac tonight.

Cammie looked up at the top bunk of the bed, where she could see the outline of Sirius's sleeping body.

As though it were his sixth sense, his eyes opened and were met with the sight of her face. "Cammie?" he said. He wasn't groggy at all. In fact, he hadn't been able to sleep much, either.

"Hey," she said, shrugging. "I was just wondering…want to go outside with me?"

Sirius didn't look confused. In fact, he looked kind of delighted that she had disrupted his quiet peace. "Yeah, of course," he said. He took the sheets off of his bed, climbed down from the bunk, and made his way downstairs and outside with Cammie right next to him, silent.

They set up Sirius's blankets on the grassy area outside and laid down. Cammie put her head into the little niche between Sirius's shoulder and arm, and then put her hand on his chest.

"You know I hate it when you're quiet," said Sirius, laughing to himself. "It makes me think something's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," Cammie muttered into his shoulder, clutching his shirt with her hand.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. You know me, when something's really wrong, I usually tell you."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Cammie looked across Sirius's chest into the dark grass and sighed. "I guess it just all feels weird."

"What?"

"We're starting our last year of Hogwarts. Tomorrow's our last train ride to the school on September first. I mean, really. It's kind of scary."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because, after Hogwarts…I really have no idea what I want to do. None at all. I don't even know if I'm going to go home or stay in England…"

Sirius looked down at the top of Cammie's head. "I know you hate it in England. You've told me a million times. And besides, you could find a job in America, too. Become the Minister of Magic there, and I'll be the Minister of Magic here." He laughed. Cammie managed a weak smile.

"What are you going to do after Hogwarts?" Cammie asked.

"Well…I was thinking about becoming an Auror," said Sirius. "I like that kind of stuff. I could do it, I think. And besides, the country could use all the help we can get to fight off Voldemort."

Cammie shrugged. "I guess. I've been thinking about becoming an Auror, too."

She could feel Sirius stiffen underneath her. "It's really dangerous," he said after a moment.

"I know," said Cammie. "That's what's so…intriguing about it, I guess."

Sirius sighed deeply. It was silent for a couple of minutes.

"I think I'd also like to be a writer," said Cammie. "Not, like, write my own stories, but, I don't know, write stuff for the _Daily Prophet_."

"I didn't know you liked to write," said Sirius, desperate to get her away from the idea of being an Auror.

"Just a tiny bit," said Cammie. "I've never given it much thought, really. Just, you know, the occasional 'what if' scenarios in my head."

"You could always try it."

"Yeah, but I might fail at it."

"So?"

Cammie sighed. "I don't know."

Finally, she yawned. Then, Sirius yawned. "Ugh, you made me do that," he said.

"Why?" asked Cammie.

"Yawns are contagious. You made me yawn, you meanie."

"I didn't make you do anything."

"Sure," he said, mock-mad, turning his head away from her.

"Oh, come on," said Cammie, giggling. Sirius turned his head back towards her and she lifted her head up to see his face. They kissed shortly. "Bet James hates that I'm here."

"Why'd you say that?"

"Because I'm the girlfriend of his best friend."

"So? You're also the best friend of his lifelong crush."

Cammie laughed again. "Does James really think he has a chance with Lily?"

"Apparently. Lily's hated him since first year, and James has liked her since third."

"He has got to be really horny if he's just been waiting for her."

Sirius laughed. "Yeah, he probably is."

"When did James start liking her?" asked Cammie. "I just know that he's liked her, but I remember that he also hated her from first to the middle of third."

Sirius shrugged. "It's a weird story, but Lily ended up saving his life or something, or so he claims. You know how he's overdramatic."

Cammie laughed. "So what's the overdramatic story?"

"Well, James did something wrong with his potion or something, and decided to test it out on himself, and it turned out to be a poison because he had messed it up so much. Slughorn didn't know what to do and Lily went through his stores, found a bezoar, and stuck it down James's throat. So he lived."

"I think I remember that day," said Cammie thoughtfully.

Sirius shrugged. "You probably do. It was scary."

There were another couple moments of silence.

"Are you scared at all?" Sirius asked her, his voice in a hushed whisper.

He could feel her shiver against him. "Only when I'm in England. That's the only time I ever really need to be scared."

Sirius thought back to that one day, on Valentine's Day, during their fifth year, how Cammie had been put into a coma by the Death Eaters. Ever since then, he had been working his ass off in Defense Against the Dark Arts. He was going to make sure that nothing ever harmed her again.

"I know what you're thinking about," said Cammie. "Don't think about that. I was fine."

"Yeah, a week after," Sirius muttered. "What if something really bad had happened to you?"

"The point is, nothing happened to me."

"But what if something did? What if you had died?"

"I don't know, Sirius, I would be dead? I can't say what would happen if I had died because I wouldn't know, only you would."

Sirius was quiet. "I wouldn't know, either," he finally said. "Even by that time, I was in love with you."

Cammie tilted her head. "How long were you in love with me before you admitted it?"

Sirius became thoughtful. "I'd liked you for a while, I think, but I really fell for you that night I got drunk at that bar. It hit me then. And you had taken care of me all night while I was puking in the toilet."

"I didn't know the spell," Cammie said.

"When did you realize you were in love with me?" asked Sirius.

"I think I had been in love with you for a while, actually," said Cammie. "I just never wanted to admit it to myself. But I had liked you since my birthday, when you gave me the locket." She pulled out, from under her shirt, the golden locket that Sirius had given her for her fifteenth birthday. "It totally got me."

Sirius smiled. "All that wasted time of not admitting it to each other."

"Well, I was the girl, I wasn't going to be the one to ask you out. You're the man."

Sirius laughed. "Yeah, I am the man, huh?"

They kissed again.

"This night is so cheesy," said Cammie, giggling. "So, so, so cheesy."

"I like the cheesy stuff," said Sirius. "At least we know we're doing something right."

They fell quiet again, and before they could say anything else, Cammie had fallen asleep on Sirius's chest.

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"Sirius? Sirius, where are you?"

Sirius groaned. It had been a nice night, a comfortable night, despite how cold it had been. He was happy where he was, lying on the grass on his comforter, with Cammie snuggling against him. He had one of his arms around her, and she was laying with her back to him, sleeping softly.

"Mum, I can't find Sirius"

"Well, where could he be? He wouldn't run away."

"I'll go ask Cammie…oh, crap! She's not here, either!"

Cammie started to stir a tiny bit, refusing to open her eyes. It was probably all just a dream, anyways…

"Okay, come on," she heard Mrs. Potter's voice say disapprovingly. "Let's go find them, they can't be far."

Doors were opening and closing, but only faint sounds of it reached their ears.

"CAMMIE! SIRIUS!"

Why would James be yelling for them?

Sirius opened his eyes a crack, and smiled down at the smell of Cammie's hair. Happily, he whispered in her ear lightly, "You forgot to go running today."

Cammie sighed and laughed hollowly. "I'd say my time was better spent."

Sirius smiled, although Cammie couldn't see it on his face.

"Oh, there they are…Mum! I found them!"

The sound of feet running towards them was heard. They didn't dare break from their comfortable position.

"Come on, you two, get up!" James started saying.

"Go away," Sirius mumbled sleepily. Cammie turned and hid her head in Sirius's chest.

"Come on, we're leaving for Hogwarts today!" James shouted.

Cammie jumped out of her comfort position. "What?" she said groggily. "Hogwarts? Shit! I have to take a shower! What time is it?"

"Eight o'clock. We're leaving at nine-thirty. Hurry up!"

Cammie got up and ran into the house, leaving Sirius on the blankets. Sirius got up slowly to a sitting position.

"Why'd you do that?" he asked. "We were all comfortable…"

"We're leaving soon," said James. "Don't you get that?"

"Thank Merlin it's the last year I ever have to get up to go on that train," Sirius muttered. "I hate mornings. Is your mum making coffee?"

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Lily was ready. Of course she was ready. It was the day she got on the Hogwarts Express, the last time she was leaving for Hogwarts on the first of December. But she wasn't feeling any sentiment towards that at the moment.

"Mum, do I have to go to the station with you?"

"Yes, dear, you do. It would be very nice of you to."

"But everyone there's not, well, normal. They don't look right. They look like they're _crazy_."

Lily sighed and leaned her head against the wall of the stairwell, where she was listening in on the conversation from. Petunia had come by last night alone, without her three hundred pound fiancé, and had spent the night so her and Mrs. Evans could go run some errands for the wedding. However, before they were going to leave and do that, Mrs. Evans was making her come to the station with them, just as she had the first time that Lily left for Hogwarts.

Lily shut her eyes, tried to shut everything out. Even though she didn't care for her sister much anymore, it still made her upset every time she heard how much Petunia didn't care for her.

_It's just because she's not magic, _Lily thought to herself. _She's just jealous because I've got a magic wand and can do whatever with it while she can't do anything. I'm special._

"It doesn't matter, Petunia," said Mrs. Evans. "It's Lily's last year at Hogwarts, and you will come to the station with us to support her."

Finally, Lily decided to show herself and walk down the rest of the stairs and into the kitchen. Petunia looked ready to retort to Mrs. Evans, but stopped at the sight of Lily, which made her glare.

"Oh, hello, Lily," said Mrs. Evans. "What do you want for breakfast this morning, dear?"

"I'm not hungry, Mum," said Lily. She was still holding the gaze of her sister. She didn't hate Petunia and, hopefully, Petunia didn't hate her. Neither of them really cared for the other, though. Petunia was going to marry Vernon Dursley and they were likely to have a very boring future together, while Lily was going to pursue a career in the magical world and most likely work in the Ministry of Magic.

"They have their own Ministry?" Petunia had once scoffed at Lily when she returned from her first year of Hogwarts. "Who would've thought that they were smart enough to do that?"

"Well, obviously they're smart, that's why they built a school," Lily had retorted. "How else would we all use magic?"

Petunia had winced. Lily had said the M word. It was a soft subject.

"That's not healthy," said Mrs. Evans. "You need to eat something."

"I'll just pick something up on the train," said Lily. "Don't worry, I'm not starving myself."

It was silent for a moment as Mrs. Evans made herself a cup of tea.

"Petunia doesn't have to come to the station if she doesn't want to," Lily said. "I know how she dreads being seen around people who aren't _normal_." _Particularly me._

"Oh, no, dear, she's coming," said Mrs. Evans.

"I was supposed to meet Vernon for breakfast before we headed out," Petunia muttered.

"And talk about what?" Lily whispered to her. "His boring drills company?"

"It's not boring!" Petunia hissed back. "Your maturity level just hasn't reached that of interesting business topics."

"Hmm, well, I'm happy my maturity level doesn't have to reach that, because, for the rest of my life, I'll be talking about magic."

Petunia winced. Lily smiled in triumph.

"Lily, go bring your luggage downstairs, will you?" said Mrs. Evans, who hadn't heard any of their whispered conversation.

Lily nodded and, before she left to go upstairs, she whispered to Petunia, "You're such a hypocrite. Remember that letter you sent?"

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"LILY!"

It was a loud shout, and Lily jumped about a foot in the air before turning around and facing Alice. "Alice!" she shouted, and hugged her best friend. "How was France?"

"Amazing!" said Alice. "Absolutely fantastic, like you have no idea. The Eiffel Tower is huge, by the way."

Lily laughed. Mr. and Mrs. Evans were standing behind her. "Hello, Alice," said Mrs. Evans.

"Hi, Mrs. Evans, Mr. Evans," said Alice. "How have you two been?"

"Very well, thank you, and yourself?"

"Great, thank you."

Mrs. Evans was always polite to Lily's friends, but they never felt the warmth or comfort that they would around another's parents who were trying to make their child's friends feel welcome. It was always a stiff kindness, as though there were other things they would rather be doing than talking to naïve students at a magic school.

Petunia stood, even stony, on the side of Mrs. Evans and, when Alice turned to say hi to her, Petunia sniffed and looked away, pretending that there was a bad stench somewhere.

"Hi, Petunia," Alice said anyways. "Nice to see you again."

Petunia looked over briefly. "Likewise," she said. Again, she glanced away, and Lily could see that she was looking at the clock, which read ten forty-seven.

"We'd better board the train," Lily said to Alice. "We need to find a compartment."

Lily hugged each of her parents and then moved on to Petunia. They didn't even act around their parents anymore. The parents knew their dread of being around each other. So, Lily just nodded at Petunia, said goodbye to her parents once more, and left with Alice.

"What's Petunia got up her ass?" Alice asked as they boarded the train, dragging their luggage behind them.

"I don't know, but it must be impossible to get out," said Lily. "It's been up there since I was eleven."

"Impossibly long, then, maybe a ten inch dildo," said Alice. Lily turned around and laughed and then, when she turned back around to face where she was going, she bumped into someone. When she looked up to see who it was, she saw Remus.

"Oh, hello, Lily," said Remus. He was always the politest of the Marauders, always trying to let Lily know that he wished he could apologize on James's and Sirius's behalf for their behavior.

"Hey, Remus," said Lily. "Nice summer?"

Remus shrugged, and Lily noticed that he looked particularly grim. _Full moon soon, then. _Lily had seen him transform on one unlucky occasion. Instead of being positively terrified, she instead felt bad for him. "It was okay. Yours?"

"Same."

"Okay. I'll see you around then."

And Remus waited for them to pass so he could make his way past them.

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James scoffed. There he was, sitting all alone in the Prefects compartment, feeling like a loser. James Potter wasn't supposed to feel like a loser. He had never, in his entire life, felt like such an outcast. So, why was today so different? He should make it as though he were proud he was Head Boy.

Phsh. Yeah right.

But why was he all alone in this compartment? This humungously huge compartment? Evans should at least be here, and the prefects would start arriving soon. He would be annoyed out of his mind by all the little fifth, sixth, and even seventh year prefects that would be trying to bug the crap out of him.

"James?"

James gave a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank Merlin! Remus!"

Remus walked in to sit down across from James. "What are you doing in here?" he asked. "You're not a prefect."

"Well, no shit," said James. He bit his lip and pointed at the little badge pinned onto his robes with an HB printed on top of the Hogwarts Crest.

"What?" said Remus. "You? You've got to be kidding me."

"I know!" said James. "Dumbledore's got to be off his rocker."

"We've all known that for a while. So are Sirius and Peter just sitting by themselves then?"

"And Cammie."

"Oh, right."

Remus loved Cammie, to be perfectly honest. She was exactly what Sirius needed. She was a good, model student, had a sense of humor, paid attention in class, and wasn't too slutty at all. In Remus's opinion, she balanced Sirius out.

It was just then that Evans—_no, Lily,_ James reminded himself—walked into the compartment, looking worried for a second, but then upset. "Oh," she said. "So it wasn't just some huge practical joke."

"Nope," said James, smiling. "I'm actually here!"

"Why did you look as though you were scared for a second?" asked Remus.

"I almost forgot to come in here," said Lily. "Had to make it in before all the prefects, didn't I?"

"Well, you're in time, don't worry," said James. He patted the spot next to him. "Have a seat."

Instead, Lily just looked as though she had a migraine and took the spot next to Remus. "Look, Pot—_James_, I don't really want to be here. This is probably the worst part of the year, the train ride. So, when all the prefects leave and we do our duty, I'm just heading back to my friends compartment and you can go to yours."

"Perfect," said James. "Exactly what I was going to say to you."

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Peter felt very out of place. It could be because he was the pudgiest one in the compartment, and the shortest. Maybe because he was the worst one at magic. Perhaps because he was the only blonde out of all of his friends?

Or, it could also be because he had never kissed a girl, yet there Sirius was, sitting with his girlfriend of over a year, Cammie.

Peter had always found Cammie extremely attractive. He never wanted to be her boyfriend and care for her as much as Sirius did, but he had always wanted to kiss her. So, maybe that was why he felt so out of place. Sirius was able to kiss Cammie however much he wanted, but yet Peter had never been allowed to lay his lips on hers.

Peter had had a very boring summer. His mum had made him de-gnome the garden a dozen times over, read some very uninteresting Muggle books, and clean out his room. By the time all of these things were finished, he had nothing to do for the rest of the summer.

Poor Peter.

So, when Cammie and Sirius had asked how Peter's summer had been, of course he lied. "Oh, it was fantastic," he had said. "I got to visit my uncle in America, and he took me to the Ministry of Magic there, and then he even took me to the Muggle president's house! It's all white!"

"That's why they call it the White House," Cammie said, giggling, which immediately made Peter feel stupid. He knew that, of course. Just because he wasn't American didn't mean he didn't know that. Why couldn't he have said the White House, instead of saying he went to the Muggle president's house and that it was all white?

"Don't worry 'bout it, man," said Sirius. "I didn't know either."

And then, Alice and Frank came into the compartment, and Peter felt even more out of place. Alice and Frank were a couple, as of last year, and Cammie and Alice were best friends. Frank was just a student who seemed really cool, not doing too much, not being a school dork, but always friendly to others. He was friends with just about everyone. Peter envied him. How much he wanted to be friends with so many people, have popularity, have bigger, stronger people able to defend him when he wasn't able to defend himself.

Maybe if he had Cammie, he wouldn't need people to defend himself. Wait, it would never work out. He was shorter than her. And he was scared of commitment, like any sane guy was. Well, except James, who was still waiting for Lily for Merlin knows what reason, and Sirius, who had pretty much already committed to Cammie for the rest of his life.

Why the hell were his friends so crazy?

"I got to go to Egypt, man," Frank was saying. "And there were all these pyramids, and I saw the Muggle ones, and then the really cool ones with curses and stuff, and my parents got really creeped out by them, but they were so awesome!"

"Ah, dude, I wish I could go there so badly!" said Sirius. "That would be awesome, to see all the old curses that people used in the old times."

Peter couldn't even think of something to say in this conversation. He didn't want to even try to keep his lie up about America and how it was so pretty. He had never even been to America in his life. His mum wasn't much of a traveler. No, she preferred to take long drags on her cigarettes. That was where all of his family's money was going.

Any hope that they had made a savings account for him? Nope.


	5. Chapter 5

"You know, I've always heard these rumors, about how the Head Boy and Head Girl got their own private dormitories and I was so looking forward to that. So, could you tell me where our private dormitory is?"

To be blunt, Professor McGonagall looked pissed. Not only was she astounded that a student had had the nerve to ask her that to her face, she was surprised that he could be so stupid as to not see the Head Boy's and Head Girl's from the past six years of his Hogwarts career leave for a school day from the exact same tower he had stayed in.

"You don't have one, Potter," said McGonagall. "You are still sharing a dormitory with all of your roommates from the past couple years."

"Aw, but Professor McGonagall, please? It would be so cool, and I would get all of my homework done extremely quickly because I wouldn't have any disturbances, not to mention the fact that I would be on top of all of my Head Boy duties. It would be an amazing opportunity, and everyone says that no one should miss any of the opportunities they have."

"Yes, Potter, but that's only if they have the opportunities," said McGonagall. "You, however, don't have the slightest of chances of getting a private dormitory with Miss Evans, nor would Hogwarts ever allow it. Do you think we're stupid? We're not going to let two teenagers with uncontrollable hormones get their own private dormitories. So, please, go back to your common room and stay there until tomorrow."

James, who wasn't disrespectful towards teachers like Sirius, decided not to fight back and leave the office. He walked up the hundreds of steps towards Gryffindor Tower, hoping for a good night's sleep in his warm, comfortable four poster bed. He was looking forward to, hopefully, maybe, but probably not, a nice relaxing first day of school. He wanted to be impressive, walking around with his Head Boy's badge.

Who was he kidding? He didn't want to look like a dork. Head Boy? What is Dumbledore on?

He reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, and said, "Extraho pennae," being let forth into the warmth of the common room, where none of the younger students were present, having all been too tired, and many of the older students were sitting, talking amongst themselves.

"Hey, James!"

James looked over to see the sight of Sirius's ex-girlfriend, Ashley Smith. "Oh, hey, Ash."

She smiled as she came up to him and gave him a hug. "How was your summer?"

"Fantastic," said James. "And yours?"

"Horrible," said Ashley, and James had to suppress a groan. He knew what was coming. Ashley was a big complainer, just one of the tiny reasons Sirius had dumped her. Of course, there was also the big, obvious reason that he had liked Cammie, but when it came time to actually dump her, that topic never came up. "I had to visit my extended family in France. None of them spoke English! I couldn't talk to anyone except my parents for an entire summer. Do you know how hard that is?"

"What, you don't know French?" James joked. "Come on, Ashley, if your extended family is all French, how come you don't know any?"

Ashley smirked. "Why are you so mean to me?" she said sarcastically.

"Because you take it," James said simply. "Although, if you didn't, I would probably be meaner to you more often."

"Of course. It shouldn't surprise me too much."

James squinted his eyes at her. "So, what's the real reason you're talking to me?"

Ashley didn't talk to James too often. It was usually just when she needed something, which was mostly information. She liked to know how Sirius was getting along with Cammie. He had been her first boyfriend and, although it was over and they were both done with each other and didn't like the other, Ashley always had this growing concern over how Sirius was with Cammie.

"What, so I can't just talk to you because you're my friend?" said Ashley innocently, folding her arms.

James put his hand on Ashley's shoulder. "We both know that's not the real reason here."

Ashley groaned. "Fine!" she said, then lowered her voice. "I just want to know if…if Sirius and Cammie have, well, done it."

"And I would know because…"

"Well, it's no secret that Sirius is living with you now! And I overheard Alice talking to Frank saying that Cammie spent a lot of the summer there, too. So, I just wanted to know if they had, well, you know."

James sighed. "You're a stalker, first off. Just going to be blunt, hope you don't mind."

"No offense taken."

"Second, I don't think Cammie is planning on having sex until marriage. I'm not completely sure, but that's what I've picked up."

Ashley smirked, and her eyes went wide. "What? That prude. Everyone thinks they've fucked already!"

"She's not a prude, she just has her morals. Don't make fun of her for it."

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said. "I'm going to go. See you around, James."

"Bye."

And Ashley left just like that. To be perfectly and completely honest, Ashley was a jealous person. James had a feeling that, in the back of her mind, she had known that Sirius liked Cammie, and she had known that there was not one thing she could do to stop it. Sirius had said she was not surprised when they broke up. She was just upset, even though she had known that their relationship had never been serious.

Stupid girls.

James immediately spotted Sirius and Cammie on the couch, cuddled up together, caught up in conversation that was making Cammie giggle. The sight was cute, but the thought of him thinking it was cute almost made him gag. The two were perfect for each other, and everything had fallen into place for them.

So when were things going to fall into place for him and Lily?

Lily was the perfect girl for him, he had known that forever, although everyone doubted it. Lily was amazing in every subject, she was incredible smart, she had a life other than school, and she was just extremely interesting. Yes, she was predictable, but that might just be because James had spent much of his life trying to get her to go out with him that now, he was just able to anticipate her moods easily.

Lily was the reason that James tried so hard in school. At first, it had started out as a competition. James was a competitive person, and he had wanted to be the school's smartest student, although he never would have admitted that to any of his friends. When they got their first test scores back and Lily had scored higher than he did, it was as though he had declared war until he was smarter than her, which only ever happened in Transfiguration, the one subject that Lily wasn't totally great in. No, Lily excelled in Potions and Charms.

How come everything always falls into place in the books, but nothing ever happens in real life? Was he just supposed to spend the rest of his life pining after her?

James didn't even want to consider it. Just the thought made him depressed. He decided to not go over and talk to Sirius and Cammie. They were probably happy as they were on the couch, alone, with no one to bother them.

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Head Girl. It had been Lily's dream since she was a little, tiny, naïve first year to become Head Girl. She had vowed that she would beat out every other girl in school and become the Head Girl. _What could be better_, she had thought.

Apparently, a lot.

Just the first day of school, technically the second day of her Head Girl duties, she was bombarded by an owl from home, and not a very happy owl. Her mother didn't know how to tie a letter correctly to an owls leg, and had tied it much too tightly. Lily had to untie it very gently, and could feel the owl's pulse throbbing as she undid it.

"It will be okay, Jay," Lily had murmured. Jay was the name of her barn owl, and Jay wasn't too fond of Mr. or Mrs. Evans. Neither of them had tried to get onto her good side and give her treats, like any normal, sane person would do when they had an extra mouth to feed and another good side to try to get onto.

As Lily unrolled the letter, she suppressed a sigh. It was a letter about Petunia's wedding. Joy.

_Dear Lily,_

_Sorry to be writing to you so soon, as it is only your first day back. I just wanted to let you know that I've been having a talk with Petunia about her wedding, and she has already picked out all of her bride's maids, including her maid of honor. Throughout all of my trying convincing, she won't budge on letting you be a bride's maid. She claims that she has already picked out the dresses, and that they all clash with your hair. I'm sure you'll understand, honey._

_I also wanted to talk to you about the date of the wedding, which is next year on 27 May. I know you'll be in school at the time, but you'll be able to miss a couple of days, right?_

_Take care in school, and have a wonderful last year!_

_Love, Mum. _

27 May. What an interesting day. That just happened to be Lily's finals week, when she took her N.E.W.T.s. How convenient. Petunia must have worked that out all on her own.

Of course, it wasn't unlike Petunia. She was always an annoying sister, overly-sneaky, trying to know everything about everything. She liked to spy, liked to be thought of as mature for knowing things that others didn't, when it really made her immature that she had to stretch her abnormally long neck over the rose bushes just to hear that Jamie Hutchinson got drunk at a party a few nights ago and hooked up with a random guy. Really, now.

So, Lily took this as an un-invitation to her sister's wedding. _Well, they can live their lives miserably ever after together, _she thought. _Good thing I won't be there to ruin the unhappy mood._

However, that wasn't the worst news of the day. While walking along the hallways, an innocent little first year accidentally bumped into Lily and fell into the floor, breaking his wrist.

"Some Head Girl you are!" he had shouted in pain.

It hadn't even been her fault at all. He had been the one talking to his little first year friends and not paying attention at all.

"Come on, I'll take you up to the Hospital Wing," said Lily, trying to ignore how much she wished she didn't have to. She helped him to his feet and, leaving the comforting sides of her friends, walked the first year up to Madam Pomfrey.

"What happened here, Ms. Evans?" Pomfrey asked.

"She tripped me!" complained the first year, with an innocent-but-pained expression on his face. "She tripped me on purpose and then I fell to the ground on my wrist and broke it!"

Pomfrey turned to Lily, who immediately said, "That's not true, Madam Pomfrey. We were simply walking in opposite directions, neither of us watching where we were going, and he bumped into my side and fell."

"You liar!" yelled the first year. "You dirty liar!"

Lily looked over at the little first year, who, she now noticed, was wearing Slytherins robes. She returned her gaze back to Madam Pomfrey. "How many times have I ever tripped someone on purpose and landed them in the Hospital Wing with an injury? I assure you, Madam Pomfrey, that I would never trip an innocent first year on the first day of classes."

"Stay here a moment, both of you," said Madam Pomfrey, walking into her office.

"Liar," grumbled the first year again.

"Okay, who do you think you are?" Lily hissed at him.

"I'm Matt Carnegie," he said proudly. "And you have no right to trip me in the halls and break my wrist, you Mudblood."

At her side, Lily gripped her wand even tighter. "_Watch your mouth_," she said warningly.

Matt Carnegie just smiled. "I can say whatever I want, you're not the boss of me."

"Oh, really?" said Lily. "Do I need to remind you that I'm the Head Girl of this school and can report you to your head of house? And besides, who do you think they're going to believe, me, or a stupid little first year?"

Matt's smile fell off of his face. When Madam Pomfrey returned, telling Lily she was free to go, Matt stuck his tongue out at her when Pomfrey wasn't looking, and Lily left, the ringing of Matt's rude comment lingering inside of her head, as though on repeat.

_You Mudblood you Mudblood you Mudblood_

And, of course, who else could Lily run into that day that could make it even worse? Severus Snape.

He looked up at her while passing her in the halls, and Lily, for a moment, considered purposely tripping him and breaking his wrist. But then again, she would be in actual real trouble for doing that.

_You Mudblood you Mudblood you Mudblood_

Severus met Lily's eyes for just a moment, and then dropped his gaze. Lily looked away quickly, embarrassed that her thoughts had wondered off so far that she had been staring at him. She wished that he would just go away.

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"Quidditch tryouts!" James yelled, running into the common room and holding up a flyer. Everyone turned to look at him, either in admiration or wondering about his sanity. "Flyer's up here on the board. Come down to the pitch on Saturday to see if you make the team. Bringing your own broomstick is mandatory."

Once James posted it, he walked over to Sirius, Cammie, and Remus on the couch. "Trying out this year, mate?" he asked Sirius.

"Eh, I'm considering it," said Sirius, shrugging casually. "I've got a good broom, I'm good with a Beater's bat, my girlfriend's on the team…"

"If you try out, you'd better leave all your feelings for each other somewhere else," James warned. "I'm not having your romance ruin my last season."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Jamesie, Jamesie, Jamesie, I'm not that kind of person."

"What's with the Jamesie? I thought I was Prongs."

"Well, now you have two nicknames."

"I don't want a girl's nickname!"

"Well, too bad, you have one now, Jamesie."

"Fine…Sirietta."

Sirius glared. "Now you're just being mean."

Cammie rolled her eyes as Sirius pulled her in closer towards him. It was just the night of the first day back, and Cammie was already exhausted and falling asleep. "You were the one who started it, Sirius."

"Ha!" said James. "I win, Padfoot! Hey, where's Wormtail?"

"He's being weird," said Remus. "First, he mumbled something about homework, and then goes on to say he's meeting up with some girl. We all heard him say homework first."

"Give him a break, he's trying to impress you lot," said Cammie.

"No need to lie to his best friends," said James, all hurtfully. "I thought he trusted us! I trusted him!"

"What a nasty little liar," Sirius snarled. "Well, now we can only trust each other, Jamesie."

"Right you are, Sirietta."

Cammie shivered, and Sirius pulled her in even more tightly, rubbing her arm to give her extra warmth. James felt like gagging. These two were literally the world's cutest couple, and it made him sick.

"I'll try out for Quidditch this year," said Sirius. "Besides, the team needs a Beater. All you've got left is Jeremy Spinner."

"He'll be captain next year," said James. "And then that girl, Carey. Oh, crap! We need a Seeker! That's all we need, a Seeker and a Chaser!"

"Why don't you be Seeker for the last season?" said Cammie. "You're always bragging about how your reflexes are so fast, anyways."

"I can't be Seeker, are you kidding me?" said James, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I've got to be the Chaser. That's all I can play."

"We'll find someone, man," said Sirius. "Relax."

"JAMES! What are you doing?"

James turned around to see Lily walking towards him briskly. "Wow, I'm impressed. The first-name-basis is working."

"Come on, we have Head Boy and Head Girl duties!" said Lily. "We've got to go!"

"What?" said James. "No! I'm working out my Quidditch team right now."

"JAMES!"

James closed his eyes and rolled them beneath his eyelids before letting out a loud, long groan. "Fine!"

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First of all, long walks around Hogwarts get boring without pulling some sort of prank. Second, when it's very quiet and kind of awkward, it doesn't help the boring situation. Thirdly, when you're not trusted by over half the school and every single staff member, getting caught walking around the castle doesn't do anything to your advantage.

"Potter! What are you doing?"

Filch had been the first of the night to catch them. He noticed Lily without so much of a second glance, but of course, seeing James Potter out walking around the castle makes one worry.

"I'm Head Boy," said James.

"It's no use lying to me!" Filch growled. "I know what you're up to, boy! Trying to plan something with Peeves, eh? Thought you could get by me, eh?"

"No, Mr. Filch, I really am Head Boy," said James. "Really."

"That pin on your chest is probably fake!"

"Mr. Filch, believe him," said Lily, glancing at James and sighing. "Professor Dumbledore assigned him as Head Boy."

Filch squinted his eyes at James before backing off slowly. "I'm watching you, Potter," he grumbled.

_That's not creepy at all,_ James thought.

The second person of the night was Hagrid, when they were walking around the outside grounds near the lake. He looked ready to tell off James and look proud at the same time when he got this understanding look in his face and realized that James was Head Boy.

"Lily, can we please go back up to Gryffindor Tower?" James asked. "Everyone thinks I'm out to kill the school or something."

"Well, with your record?" said Lily, rolling her eyes. "But, yeah, our time is up anyways. Let's go back."

"Finally."

"What? So you're not going to use these late night strolls to your advantage? Try to graffiti the walls or anything?"

"First off, graffiti? That's juvenile. I come up with better stuff than that in my naps during class. And second, what's the use about using these walks to my advantage? You're here, you'd ruin any plans I had anyways."

"I'm glad you realized that."

"You don't make any sense at all."

It was silent for a long time until, finally, in one of the long hallways, Lily turned to him. "Why can't you just be mature?" she asked.

James just smiled arrogantly and took a step towards Lily, forcing her to back into the wall. "Why should I?" he asked. "What reason do I have to be so?"

"Have you ever noticed that now you're seventeen?"

"Yeah, I have, and I get happier every time I think about it."

"Well, good for you, because everyone else worries about it."

"Why should they worry? I'm a natural when it comes to magic."

"Yeah, a natural that likes to blow things up on purpose."

James rolled his eyes and took a step back from Lily. "As long as we're on the topic of things we can't be, why can't you be more fun? Live a little?"

Lily glared. She was angry. "Well, why are you in love with a girl who's no fun and doesn't live?"

James shrugged. "You don't choose who you fall in love with." He started walking towards Gryffindor tower.

Lily jogged a few steps to catch up. "See? You have absolutely no reason at all to even remotely like me. We're not destined to be together, James."

"Yes, we are."

"Then give me one good reason why you like me. Right now."

"I could give you a different reason every single day for the rest of my life and I still wouldn't have finished telling you why I like you."

"So what's your reason today, then?" Lily dared. They started their final ascent up the stairs that led to the Gryffindor common room.

Once they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, James said "Extraho pennae," and walked in once the door swung open. Lily followed the two steps that he had taken, not expecting an answer anymore. She was about to turn to the right to head towards the stairs to her dormitory when James surprised her and turned back around to face her. He was so close to her at this moment that she noticed how much taller he was than her, and she could smell the cologne coming off of his body. "I like you because you're brilliant," he said simply.

Lily just stood there looking up at him. The common room was empty of everyone, and the firelight was fading. She didn't have anything to say back to him, nothing that would fit the mood of their surroundings at the moment. And she didn't know what she would say, anyways. Thank you, perhaps? No, that would be awkward. But, then again, the whole situation at the current moment was awkward.

Before Lily could think of a response, James turned back around and up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, leaving Lily standing there, wondering.


	6. Chapter 6

It wasn't even as if she had anything to wonder about.

By the time Lily walked up the stairs to her dormitory and opened the door, she was stumped for some odd reason. By why? No, it wasn't that James had finally charmed her into wanting to go out with him. It was how he first insulted her and then gave her a compliment that made time stand still for a moment.

Lily didn't like to think of herself as brilliant. In her mind, she was quite stupid, actually. She once believed that Severus had been her friend for five years, didn't she? And there was still a part of her that liked to think Petunia didn't completely hate her.

The only thing about her that was brilliant was her grades. And not even all of them, mostly just Charms and Potions. She lagged behind James in Transfiguration. Sirius had become better than her in Defense Against the Dark Arts in the past few years, ever since the incident in Hogsmeade their fifth year, and had a stronger Patronus than Lily. She didn't even have any idea what she wanted to do when she graduated. No clue whatsoever.

So, as you can see, there was no way she could be brilliant when she didn't even have any ambition.

She sighed. _Cammie_, she thought. _I need to talk to Cammie. She'll have something comforting to say_.

But when Lily walked into the dormitory to wake Cammie up, she found Cammie's bed to be empty.

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Waking up with Sirius's arms around her, Cammie was surprised that they had both fit in the tiny bed. But upon waking up, she found that she had one of the most refreshing nights of sleep in her life.

The light creaking in through the window next to Sirius's bed was what had begun to gently wake her up. For a moment, she was wondering where she was and whose bed she was in, but as she took in her surroundings, she realized she was in the boys' dormitory.

The night before, Sirius had asked Cammie if she wanted to go to Hogsmeade and drink a little. "Toast to the start of a new school year," was how he had put it.

"We'll get caught," Cammie had said.

"No, James is on duty. We're as safe as can be. I'll even take his invisibility cloak with us, and the Marauder's Map. Come on," he'd begged.

And off they went to the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, where they drank butterbeers and firewhiskey, and Cammie's lightweight self came to haunt her. She vaguely remembered getting back to Hogwarts. But how did she not end up in her own bed?

Whatever. It didn't matter. She was curled up, being spooned by the man she was in love with. Nothing could be better. And she started to doze off again.

"Ms. Legront!"

The shout startled her. She sat up immediately, as did Sirius, to be face-to-face with Professor McGonagall.

"Professor!" Cammie put her hand to her mouth. She looked down, and was thankful that she was at least wearing something, but a little ashamed that it was Sirius's shirt. She still couldn't remember how she had gotten into this bed.

James woke up immediately as well. The other three boys in the dormitory were already gone. He looked Cammie and Sirius, ran his hand through his hair, and groaned.

"You know very well that—that—that this is NOT allowed!"

"Professor, we didn't do anything—"

"We swear, really—"

McGonagall turned on Potter. "And you! As Head Boy, you should have told Cammie to leave! This is the boys' dormitory!"

"I-I fell asleep before they came in!" said James. "Honestly. When I came back from my rounds, they were still talking in the common room," he lied.

"Professor, he had no idea, really," said Sirius. "Cammie and I were up late chatting and doing homework, and then I looked over and she had fallen asleep on the couch, but, you know, I couldn't carry her into her own dorm, not with the enchantment on the staircase. So I took her into mine."

"A very likely story," McGonagall said sarcastically. "Twenty points from Gryffindor, and detention for both of you! And the detentions will NOT be together!" And with that, she stormed out.

James clutched his hair with his hands and turned to face the two. "Come on, guys, really?"

"I don't even know how I got here, in all honesty," said Cammie. She turned to Sirius. "What happened at the end of last night?"

"You were pretty drunk," said Sirius, shoving her shoulder playfully. "Couldn't even walk up the stairs on your own, and you were throwing a little inebriated hissy fit, so I carried you up the stairs, gave you a shirt to wear, and let you fall asleep."

"What was the hissy fit about?"

"You'd better be coming out for the Quidditch team now," said James, getting out of bed and walking to his drawers to put some clothes on. Cammie turned away, not wanting to look at James in his boxers. "We have twenty points to make up, thanks to you two. And no one had better score on us this season," he pointed at Cammie.

Sirius groaned and fell back on the mattress. Cammie rolled her eyes and gave a sarcastic smile. "As you wish, captain."

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"You slept in his bed? Did you guys finally have sex?"

Alice was smiling like a giddy little child during her break between classes with Cammie. Lily was currently in Arithmancy, so the two of them were walking around the grounds.

"Um…" Cammie tried to think, but there were no clear thoughts of anything after exiting the Three Broomsticks. "I…I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"I _mean_ I was drunk and must have blacked out. I just can't remember what happened last night. Sirius said I threw a hissy fit, but I still haven't found out about what."

"Well, did you ask?"

"Yeah, but he didn't get a chance to answer, because James started making a stink about Quidditch."

"Ugh, stupid James." Alice laughed. "Frank mentioned at breakfast this morning that you two were in bed together. Said you guys looked almost picturesque."

"Glad he was looking," Cammie mumbled as they continued walking.

Alice put her arm around Cammie's shoulders. "On the bright side, you know that Sirius wouldn't take your virginity if you were that drunk. He's not heartless."

"I know, I know," said Cammie. "I trust him. That wouldn't happen."

"And besides, he knows your morals and views and everything. He's holding out with you until marriage."

Cammie looked out at the dark surface of the lake as Alice's arm slid off from her shoulders. She sighed.

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When Lily finally saw Cammie enter the Great Hall that night, she didn't know whether to be relieved or irritated. _Of course_ the one night Lily desperately needed girl talk, her best friend was with her boyfriend. And Lily had just had a field day from Professor McGonagall.

"You are not doing your job correctly as Head Girl!" she had told her. "You should have come to me straight away when you saw her bed was empty!"

"Professor, she was studying when I got back, in the common room" said Lily, protecting her friend from further trouble.

"Well, I'm glad you've all got your story straight," said McGonagall sarcastically before dismissing Lily from her office.

But once Cammie sat next to Lily, looking pale as could be, all of the catty conversation starters and retorts faded from her mind. Cammie looked deeply worried.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked immediately.

But Cammie ignored the question. Instead, she went to put some steamed veggies onto her plate. Slowly, she poured herself a glass of water and watched the ringlets form around the stream of liquid falling into the cup. Then, she picked up her fork, twirled it around with her fingers, stabbed it into a piece of broccoli, and took a small nibble from it.

"Cammie. Are you okay?"

Cammie finally looked up from her plate at Lily, the fork still holding the broccoli to her mouth. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Oh, come on. You haven't looked so depressed since the first day I met you." That brought a half-smile to Cammie's lips. "Just tell me what's up."

"Well, you probably heard all about where I was last night," Cammie mumbled.

"Yeah, but I didn't think anything of it," said Lily, lying through her teeth. "You slept in Sirius's bed. He's been your boyfriend of over a year, I'm not judging you."

"No. Before that."

"I honestly have no idea what happened before that."

Cammie dropped her fork onto her plate with a _clang!_, and then cringed at the sound. "Well. Apparently I ended up getting blackout drunk in Hogsmeade last night."

Lily would have laughed if Cammie hadn't looked so upset. But instead, she commented sarcastically. "Well, that was fast."

The words brought another smile to Cammie's face, helping her to look more like herself. "So you see, I have no idea how I ended up in Sirius's bed. Except for what he told me."

"Which is?"

"That I threw an 'inebriated hissy fit' over something, and couldn't even walk up stairs I was so drunk. So he carried me to the boys' dorm, since he couldn't get up the stairs to the girls' dorm."

"Well, I mean, that part makes sense," said Lily. "At least he didn't leave you to sleep in the common room."

"Nah, Sirius wouldn't do that."

"Then what's bugging you?"

Cammie bit her lip. "I'm wondering if we had sex."

Lily almost laughed. "That's what's freaking you out?"

"It's my virginity!" Cammie whisper-yelled. "It's serious!"

"So is your boyfriend," said Lily calmly. "Not to make another pun with his name, but he is seriously in love with you and would never take your virginity if you were that drunk. And especially not with four other sleeping boys in the room. He's at least classier than that."

"I just don't want to have lost my virginity while I was drunk."

"With Sirius, you can bet that won't happen."

Cammie sighed. "Do you think I made a mistake, dating a Marauder?"

"I'm always going to think you made a mistake dating a Marauder," said Lily, smiling. "But I think you two even each other out."

Cammie smiled. "Thanks, Lils."

"No problem."

"So how was duty as Head Girl last night?"

"Yeah…about that…"

"What?" Cammie bit into a piece of zucchini, and then plopped some mashed potatoes onto her plate.

"It was weird."

"Why?"

"It just…was, I guess."

"What happened?"

"I don't know," said Lily. "Our duty was done, whatever, and we started walking back and we were bickering as usual and I asked him why he couldn't be more mature and blah blah blah, and then he asked me why couldn't I be more fun, and I got angry, so I asked him why he was in love with someone who wasn't any fun—anyways, cutting this off, he told me he could give me a reason every day for the rest of his life why he liked me, and I dared him to give me one right then and there, and then…he told me I was brilliant."

Cammie nodded as she chewed some mashed potatoes. "Why are you so surprised?"

"Well, I mean, I'm not brilliant—"

"Oh, come on—"

"But I'm not—"

"Lily, for Merlin's sake," said Cammie, rolling her eyes. "You need to learn to accept compliments better, number one. Number two, it's the truth. You're brilliant, and you know it. What's the big deal? That it came out of James's mouth?"

"No," said Lily, scoffing. "It just took me by surprise, that's all."

"No, it's just that James gave you a pure and honest compliment, and you don't want to accept it because he was the one to say it. And you want to fight it, but you can't."

"That's not it at all!"

"Yes, it is! Look, I know you have your preconceived notions about him and whatnot, which I mostly agree to when it comes to you, because he can be an asshole and full of himself, but he was being nice last night. He ended the night by being nice, and you just can't comprehend that, because it's not the James that your mind knows."

There was a moment's silence.

"Ugh, I hate you."

"Why?"

"Because you have the tendency of being right."

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"Sirius!"

Cammie found her boyfriend late that night in the library, of all places. He had his Defense Against the Dark Arts homework out, and multiple books surrounding him.

"Shh!"

"Sorry, Madam Pince," said Cammie a little softer. Sirius looked up at her and smiled that cocky smile as she took the seat across from him. "You're doing homework?"

"Hey, this is the year that matters," said Sirius. "Gotta pass our N.E.W.T.s, right?"

"Well, yeah, I guess," said Cammie, shrugging.

"Where's your homework?"

"Already done," said Cammie, smiling cockily back at him. "I was wondering if we could talk?"

"About what?"

"About last night."

"What about last night?" said Sirius, looking up worriedly. "I'm sorry if this morning was uncomfortable. I really couldn't get you up to your dorm last night, and you were refusing anyways. You were yelling so loud, I was scared the whole of Gryffindor Tower was going to wake up."

"No, no, it's not that," said Cammie. "You know that if I could, I'd spend every night in your arms."

Sirius smiled, a look of deep relief on his face. "Well, I'm glad it's not about that, then."

"But I was wondering. What was my little hissy fit about?"

Sirius rolled his eyes and looked down at his book. "You were fighting with yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"Morals versus wants. You wanted something but it went against your morals."

Cammie slouched back in her chair. "So it was about sex, then."

Sirius laughed. "We didn't have sex, don't worry."

"I know, I know. You wouldn't take my virginity when I was drunk."

"Exactly." Sirius wrote something down really fast and then looked up. "Look. I know where you stand on this. We don't even need to have a discussion on it. I'm with you one hundred percent on what you want to do. It's your virginity. And besides, I was given a hand for a reason."

Cammie smirked and rolled her eyes. "What exactly was I saying?"

"You just kept saying things like, 'We should have sex,' and then a minute later being like, 'No! We can't have sex! That's crazy! I'm Christian!' but then going back to your first statement. It happened for a long time until finally you couldn't figure out what you wanted and you were just screaming."

"Wow. I'm a lovely drunk."

"Well, you're a lovely person. Of course you're lovely when you're drunk as well."

"And what were you saying back to me last night? In response?"

"Well, you know, I was trying to be that loving boyfriend that I am, so I gently put my arms on your shoulders and said that you should go to sleep. But then you became very adamant about having sex all of a sudden, and you weren't fighting with yourself anymore. So I told you that it wasn't a special enough occasion, just to shut you up. And after a while, you finally agreed."

"Merlin," said Cammie, putting her hands to her forehead. "I really hope no one else heard that except for you. That's embarrassing."

"Don't be embarrassed, babe. You were drunk. It happens. I mean, hey, look what happened with me and Lace—oh, wait, that's a bad example."

Cammie laughed, which earned her another "Shhh!" from Madam Pince.

"Look," said Sirius, leaning across the table and taking Cammie's hands in his. "I love you. More than anything. And I would never, ever let you make a decision while drunk that you would regret in the morning. I mean, hey, if I'd let you make out with me the first time you got drunk two years ago, we probably wouldn't be together now."

"I did not try and make out with you."

"Oh, yes, you did."

"Did not."

"Cammie. You were drunk. It happens. You just happened to be all over me."

"That was before I even had any feelings for you."

"Oh, please. Let's be real. I'm Sirius Black. You probably had feelings for me the first time you laid eyes on me."

"You're so full of yourself."

"Yeah, but you love me."

"Whoops." Cammie smiled and leaned across the table to peck him on the lips.

Madam Pince was over within the second. "There is no kissing in this library!" she shouted. "Out! Out! OUT!"


	7. Chapter 7

Winter was coming on early this year. If the cold, wet summer hadn't been enough of a hint, the end of September was, when everyone had started to layer on their clothes underneath their cloaks. By mid-October, Hogwarts had the arrival of the first snowfall. So, with the slush just barely melted, the first Quidditch match of the year came with worry. Mostly from James.

"This is my seventh and final year here," he complained to Cammie and Sirius one night in the locker room after a rather intense practice. Sirius, who had indeed made the team as a beater, was twirling his bat around with his fingers. "If we don't win the cup this year, I'm going to murder someone."

"Leave that to the Death Eaters, mate," said Sirius. "Or we could find one for you to kill. Either works. As long as I get to help."

Cammie rolled her eyes as James took off his Chaser's gloves. "Relax. The first game is against Hufflepuff. We'll be fine."

"Don't underestimate your opponents," Sirius said. "That's the first rule."

"First rule of what?"

"Of…everything!"

"Oh, shut up."

"Sirius is right," said James, pointing at Cammie. "We can't underestimate Hufflepuff because it's, well, Hufflepuff. They have a decent line-up this year. And besides, Hufflepuff's are known for being loyal. You mess with one person, all of them will come after you."

Cammie rolled her eyes again and turned towards her locker to retrieve a towel. "Whatever. I'm going to shower."

As she walked towards the girls' shower stalls, Sirius's eyes followed her. Once the door closed, he turned to James. "This past month's been weird, Prongs."

"Why?"

"After that drunken night there's, well, some weird sort of tension between me and Cammie."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. Like, _sexual_ tension."

James laughed. "You and Cammie are having sexual tension?"

"Yes."

"I doubt it."

"Come on, Jamesie. It's not that hard to believe."

"Yes, it is," said James, taking his towel out and flinging it over his shoulder. "It's Cammie. We both know her side of things."

"Yeah, but here's where it changes," said Sirius. "She wants to have sex."

James lifted his eyebrows as he closed the door to his locker. "What? Since when?"

"Since that drunken night! Didn't I tell you what happened that night? How she threw a drunken hissy fit over having sex but not being able to because of her morals?"

"No! You completely left that part out!"

"Well, sorry! But it's true. We both know that she wants to have sex, but she doesn't want to at the same time. Prongs, it's weird. She's horny."

James grimaced. "Don't tell me things like that about Cammie. That's gross."

"It's true. She's horny. And it's becoming increasingly obvious."

"Stop. Just stop. I'm going to go take a shower and cleanse myself of this disgusting news. Ew. Bye."

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After his shower, James walked calmly up to Gryffindor Tower, made his way to his dorm, and spritzed himself with a little cologne. He ruffled his hair a little, since it had become clear from a young age that there was nothing he could do to fix the messy mop on his head. He cleaned his glasses on his shirt, put his Hogwarts cloak over it with his Head Boy badge, and walked out of his dormitory, down the stairs, and over to where the back of the portrait of the Fat Lady resided.

He was actually early.

After a few patient minutes of waiting, Lily came walking down the stairs from her dormitory, an astonished look on her face upon seeing James. "Is something wrong?" she asked. "Is there an emergency?"

"No," said James. "I've just decided to take my duties more seriously."

Lily sniffed the air. "Is that—are you wearing cologne?"

James raised his eyebrows. "No."

"This isn't a date, James, we're on duty tonight."

"Yes, yes, I know, and I'm not wearing cologne, just like you're not wearing perfume." Lily turned a little red. James smirked. "No one can help the urge to want to smell good."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Let's just get this done with."

"Well, we have until midnight. Three hours to go."

The portrait hole opened and James and Lily made their way through it and started walking through the hallways, up and down different stairs, towards where Ravenclaw Tower was.

"I figured we could cover all the ground between the four houses," said James. "We can walk to Ravenclaw, down to the Slytherin dungeon, across to the Hufflepuff's basement or whatever, and then back up to Gryffindor Tower. That should take about three hours, and we'll have covered most of the school, as well."

Lily just stared blankly at him. "Okay. And since when have you even cared about your Head Boy duties?"

"I've always cared," said James. "Where have you been, Lilykins?"

"Ugh. Please don't call me that."

"Why not?"

"It's a pet name. I'm not some animal."

"What about Lily Flower?"

"No."

"Lily Bear?"

"No."

"Tiger Lily?"

Lily laughed a little. "From the Muggle play Peter Pan?"

"Yes! Exactly!"

"How do you know about that?"

"Psh. Who doesn't know about Peter Pan?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Well, you never do cease to surprise me, I guess."

"So I can call you Tiger Lily?"

"No."

James laughed a little. "I thought not."

"Then why even bother asking?"

"I like the sound of your voice when it refuses me."

"Well. That's weird."

They continued walking towards Ravenclaw Tower. Their steps were soon echoing off of the castle walls in response to their silence. And for the first time around James, Lily felt awkward for a reason other than him hitting on her. They were technically acquaintances now, and they couldn't even keep an ongoing conversation.

"Have you ever been in Ravenclaw Tower?" Lily asked.

"Of course," James responded, looking down at the top of her head. The question was a little odd, and seemed somewhat forced. It was also the first time that Lily had voluntarily tried to start a conversation. "Don't you remember that time Sirius, Remus, Peter, and I hexed all of Emmett Freedman's clothes into not wanting to be worn?"

"Oh, yeah. He had to walk around all day in someone's cloak that was fit for a giant."

"Yeah," James laughed. "That was a good day."

"So how do you get into Ravenclaw Tower?"

"Aww, Little Lily—"

"I said no pet names—"

"Are you trying to sneak into Ravenclaw Tower?"

"Of course not! That's ridiculous. I'm Head Girl."

"And I'm Head Boy." James smirked. "The title implies nothing."

"It would be more meaningful if the Head Boy title belonged to someone who actually deserved it."

"Ouch."

"So tell me."

"I don't know if I want to now."

"Oh, come off it. I'm intrigued."

"You just want to know how to get in so you can hit on Emmett or something."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Forget it."

James laughed as they continued to walk. "That's the one thing I'm good at, you know," he said. "I can always manage to piss you off."

"Must be a talent," said Lily sarcastically.

James glanced sideways at her. "You have to answer a question. That's the way you get in."

Lily turned her eyes to look at him, but he looked away. "Really? That's it?"

"What do you mean, that's it? They're tricky, those questions. Meant for geniuses. That's why it's for Ravenclaw."

"Well, you've gotten in, so they can't be too terrible."

"Ha ha," said James sarcastically. "You're so funny. Hilarious."

Lily smiled smugly. "And there's something I'm good at. Snarky responses."

"Yeah, but that's only begun recently."

"Had to figure out how to ward you off somehow."

"And you're still failing. Tragic."

At that point, they had reached a spiral staircase. James took Lily's wrist (because she would have protested had he taken her hand) and led her up the staircase, circling round and round and round, until they reached a door with no handle or keyhole; just a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle.

"Go on," said James. "See if you're smart enough. Knock."

Desperate to prove to James her intelligence, she knocked. The eagle's beak opened, saying, "How old do you have to be to die from old age?"

Lily was a little stumped. There were too many answers to choose from. In the Muggle world, most people died before they were one hundred, but in the wizarding world, people lived to be over a hundred and fifty. "It could be different for everyone, depending on their current health," Lily said, still unsure of her answer.

But the door didn't open. Lily stared at it long and hard, trying to think of another answer to the question, before finally kicking the door and making her way down the spiral steps. James smirked and followed.

Once they reached the bottom, James turned to her and said, "Senescence."

"Huh?"

"Senescence. It's a fancy word for old age. Your answer was right, you just didn't explain it in the way that the door wanted."

Lily stopped and turned to face him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, yes, dying of old age is different for everyone, but what it depends on is the changes in the molecular and cellular structure that disrupt your metabolism. With passing time, it results with the deterioration and death of your body. In reality, I guess you could even say that there is no dying of old age, just the weakening of your body and diseases catching up with you. That's what the door was looking for, not just the word health."

"Well. Aren't you brilliant." Lily glared. "How do you even know that medical term?"

"My mother's a Healer."

Lily turned on her heal and walked away. But the steps behind her were too quick, and James had his hand on her shoulder and was turning her around to face him before she even knew it.

"Okay, I didn't mean to show you up," he said apologetically. "I'm sorry, it was stupid of me."

"Why are you apologizing?" asked Lily. "That's very much _not_ like you."

"Because, we're friends. Friends don't show up or outsmart friends."

"Friends."

"Yes, Lily. We're friends. I mean, I don't know, I think we've worked our way up to it."

"Hmm, let's see," said Lily. "First, I find out you're Head Boy. Then, with the unfortunate series of events that occurs, you get me kicked out of driving school, you fourth wheel me and manage to make me fall off my stool during a fitting in Diagon Alley, and then you insult me on our first night of Head Boy and Girl duties."

"Insult you?" said James. "I never insulted you, what are you talking about?"

"When you told me you I was brilliant. Well. Sure seems like an insult now, huh?"

"Lily, learn to take a compliment."

Lily slowly turned around and continued to walk. "I mean, why even tell me I'm brilliant when you're better than me at Transfiguration, and Sirius is better than me at Defense Against the Dark Arts, and stupid Severus is better than me at Potions? And everyone else is more talented than I am, I mean, even Cammie has become more of a social butterfly than I'll ever be, and she'll forever continue to beat me on every test in every subject—"

"Lily, for Merlin's sake, you are looking way too far into this." James laughed hollowly as he took a few long strides to catch up. "Why are you so down on yourself?"

"I'm not, I'm just bringing up facts."

"Yes, you are down on yourself. And don't you ever say that Snivellus is better than you at Potions. He wasn't the one who thought of shoving a bezoar into my mouth that class that I got poisoned."

"That's not a potion though, that's a fucking bezoar!" said Lily. "It's extremely different!"

"But don't you see? That's where you differ from everyone else! You're not just book smart, you actually use your knowledge in every day life. No one else would have even been able to even think of a bezoar, but you did. And you saved me. And that's why I told you you're brilliant."

"Stop saying that."

"No. I'm never going to stop saying that. Dammit, Lily, just take the compliment, okay? Actually, whatever, forget I said it, because you'll never accept it, anyways." James turned on his foot and started walking the opposite direction.

Lily turned around and watched his retreating back. "And where are you going?" she asked. "We have duty tonight!"

"Fuck duty. I'm going to be my immature self, ditch duty, grab my broomstick, and go flying. You can finish our duty by yourself, I know its what you want, anyways."

And Lily was too proud and stubborn to tell him otherwise.

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As James stalked angrily towards Gryffindor Tower, with frightening thoughts filling his head, he saw the two people who were his second and third choice of venting to: Remus and Peter.

"Prongs?" said Remus. "What are you doing? I thought you had duty tonight."

"Eh," said James, playing it off as cool. "I decided I'd rather be with you guys. What have you been up to tonight?"

"Tutoring," Peter murmured.

"Where have you been, by the way?" asked James. "I hardly ever see you anymore."

"I've been around," said Peter. "Studying a little more than usual, you know. Seeing someone."

James glanced at Remus and almost smirked. "You have a girlfriend?"

"I mean, it's just a casual thing, nothing big."

"What year is she?"

"Fifth."

"Peter, you dog."

"Actually, that's Sirius," Remus pointed out. "But apparently, his girlfriend has been helping him study quite a bit, which is a good thing. He's improved a lot with Defense Against the Dark Arts. Really has his theory down."

"That's fantastic, Wormtail!" said James. "I'm happy for you."

"Thanks," said Peter, smiling crookedly. "I'm happy too."

"Well, I was thinking of going flying for a little," said James. "Would you two care to join?"

"Well, um," said Peter, squirming a little. "I mean, um, I would, I would, but, um…you know I suck at flying."

It was true. Every time they had tried to play Quidditch together, Peter had succeeded in falling off of his broom multiple times. It was a wonder why he even owned his own broom.

"Well, I could help you out," said James. "You know. Teach you a bit."

"I'd rather not hurt myself," said Peter. "I broke my arm last time, remember? And besides, it's after hours, we'll get in trouble if we go flying."

"We're the Marauders, since when do we care about getting into trouble?"

"It would be different if it were a prank or something," said Remus. "But really, you want to get in trouble just flying around? Come on, James. Let's go back to the Common Room. You're easy to read when something's up."

"Nothing's up, Moony."

Remus just looked at James and sighed. "Well, whatever is up, you're going to have to retrieve your broomstick from the dormitory anyways, so just walk with us."

"But nothing's up."

"That's fine, but walk with us for a little."

It was silent for a few steps. The pitter-patter of their footsteps were the only thing that James let invade his mind for a while. The mindless chatter of Remus and Peter didn't even enter his ears. It wasn't until they had to go up some stairs that James stopped completely and hung his head. "She's never going to like me, is she, Moony?"

Remus and Peter, who had been a few steps ahead of him on the staircase, stopped and turned back around to face him. Peter bit his lip and looked up at Remus. "You know, mate, if she doesn't, she's missing out."

"It's just…I've made such an effort this year. Not even to get her to like me romantically, just as a friend. I've been nice, I've been friendly, I've even called her by her first name. I mean, I know I've been a screw-up the past few years, but I don't want her to continue to dislike me. I want to at least be civil. I understand that, while she may be the love of my life, I'll never be hers."

"Don't say that, Prongs."

"It's true, though, isn't it? I mean, you and Peter and Sirius have known it forever, you just keep yourselves from saying it to me so you don't hurt my feelings."

"Look, James," said Remus. "If you aren't the love of her life, then she isn't yours. There are other girls out there. She might just be your love at Hogwarts. You'll meet the love of your life soon enough. And there's no need to be in a rush about it. You're only seventeen."

"Yeah," said Peter, piping in. "Besides, you'll probably meet your soul mate while you're out kicking ass as an Auror, once we graduate."

"You think?"

"James, you've only met a very tiny portion of the girls in the wizarding world that are available to you," said Remus. "Why do you think that Lily's the one when you've barely even explored your options?"

James shrugged and kicked the bottom stair. "I guess."

"Come on, let's get you back to the common room."


	8. Chapter 8

There was a creak and a bump. Peter kept his eyes closed, not wanting to deal with whatever it was at the moment. In his dreamland, he had just ridden away on a unicorn with the most beautiful girl he could have ever imagined. There was no way he was going to let all the noises wake him up.

There was another bang. And then another one, louder than the previous. "Shit, shit, shit," he heard someone mumble.

Nope. Not happening. Peter was not going to wake up for this. The girls face was still clear in his mind and he was going to hold onto it for as long as he could.

Someone was opening their trunk and being clumsy with the locks. Peter knew when the trunk had been opened, because it slammed against someone's four-poster. His eyes opened a creak. The girl's face was now completely lost. He pulled open the curtain a smidge and saw James taking his broomstick out.

"James? What are you doing?" Peter asked blearily. He looked at the watch on his bedside table and saw that it was six in the morning. "What the fuck, James, it's too early for life right now."

"It's never too early for life, Wormtail," said James as he tugged on a sweater over his head. "Especially not on the day of our first Quidditch match."

"You're crazy."

"And you're lazy," said James. "Go back to sleep, Pete, I know how much you hate getting out of bed."

"Well, now I can't," said Peter groaning. "I swear, you are the most unholy of all people in the morning, Prongs."

"What's that mean?"

"You have no respect for other's sleep."

"That doesn't mean I'm unholy."

"Well, it means you're an asshole either way."

"I take offense to that."

"As you should."

James grinned as he sat down on his mattress to put his shoes on. "So how are you and your woman, Wormy?"

Oh, right. Peter was supposed to be seeing someone. That. Ugh. "It's going well, I guess. She's really smart."

"Is she a Ravenclaw?"

Had Peter told anyone what house she was in yet? He didn't want his story to get all mixed up.

When Peter didn't answer, James sighed and rolled his eyes. "You're going to have to introduce us all at some point. Of all people, you should at least tell your best friends who you're dating."

"It'll happen eventually," said Peter. His eyes started drooping again. "Whatever. Have fun doing your Quidditch ritual or whatever. See you…at the…the game."

James laughed lightly. "Night, Wormtail. Sweet dreams."

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"Siriuuuuusssssssss, time to wake uuuuuuppppppp. Come on, Sirius, get up already. Ugh. You're the worst in the morning. SIRIUS!"

"AAAAAHHHH!" Sirius sat up in his bed with a jolt, screaming, only to find Cammie there. "What are you doing here? You didn't fall asleep in my bed again, did you?"

"Ha, you wish," said Cammie, rolling her eyes.

"I mean, I do, I won't lie," said Sirius. He tried to stretch his eyes open as far as they would go and yawned. "So what's going on?"

"Quidditch, remember?" said Cammie. She laughed. "The game's in two hours and we need to get food in your stomach."

"What about your stomach? I'm assuming you need food too."

"Well, yes, I need food in my stomach too."

"Well, at least I'm not the only one."

"Come on, get dressed," said Cammie, attempting to pull Sirius out of bed by his arms. Instead, he pulled her on top of him. "Sirius!"

"Ha. Gotcha," said Sirius, planting a kiss on her lips. "Good morning, love."

Cammie giggled. "Good morning." She topped his kiss on her lips with a kiss on his. "But really, you should get dressed. I need some food." Cammie got up and hovered over him with her arms folded across her chest, a jesting smile on her face.

"Is James out on the pitch already?" Sirius asked as he got up and walked to the bathroom. All of the other beds were vacant. Everyone must have woken up too excited to sleep already.

Cammie walked over to the window. "Yeah, he's out there. But what'd you expect, really, with his superstitions and all."

"Seriously, he's a wizard, he has no need to be superstitious," said Sirius. He lined his toothbrush with toothpaste. "Ready to be a romantic duo out on the Quidditch pitch?"

"You're a beater, I'm a keeper, I'd hardly call us a duo of any sorts during the game," said Cammie, laughing. "If anything, you're romantic duo out there will be Jeremy Spinner."

"Nah, I'll just fly back and kiss you in midair every time we score."

"Bet James will love that."

"I mean, he put us on the team together, what'd he expect?"

Cammie opened Sirius's trunk to get his Quidditch robes out for him. "What socks do you usually wear for Quidditch?" Cammie called to him.

"The tall maroon ones, obviously. And, might I say, you look incredibly sexy in your Quidditch robes."

"Don't let it distract you," said Cammie, rolling her eyes as she set his clothes out for him.

He returned from the bathroom and grabbed his pants from the bed to pull on. "Look away, I'm changing!" he yelled dramatically.

Cammie laughed. "Yeah, because a man's torso is ever so revealing. Come on, hurry up, I want to eat before the game begins."

"Fine. But I'm getting pancakes with pumpkin syrup, and you can't stop me."

"I already know it'd be useless to try."

"Good." Sirius pulled his robe on, looked in the mirror to straighten it, and then turned to Cammie. "Ready to go, ma'am."

"And looking ever so spiffy yourself," said Cammie, feeling the front of his robes and kissing him on the lips. "Let's head down."

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In all honestly, Lily was not the biggest Quidditch fan. She tried, she really did, but the game lost a lot of the excitement after the first time she watched it. When she was new to the wizarding world, she was more impressed with the flying broomsticks than the rules of the game. But now she considers it to be more dangerous than impressive.

Alice and Frank were both extremely excited for the game. The two had decked themselves out in their nicest Gryffindor scarves and painted their faces with red and gold lines. "Come on, Remus, let me do your face now," Alice was saying, chasing Remus around the common room.

"I will NOT let you paint my face," said Remus, laughing as he wormed his way out of every corner Alice backed him into.

"But you'll look so spirited!"

"No, Alice. Not happening."

"Frank, convince him!"

"Come on, Remus—"

"NO!"

"Just let him be already, Alice," said Lily. Even though she wasn't extremely excited for the game, her friends beforehand were always a show. And school spirit was nice, too. Okay, so maybe she enjoyed the games a little.

"Remus, please?" said Alice. "Pretty please? With vampire venom on top?"

"Why vampire venom? Why not a chocolate frog or something?"

"Yeah, that probably would have sounded nicer, huh?"

"Or the ever-so-traditional cherry," Lily mumbled, smirking.

"Look, just forget about the paint, okay?" said Remus. "Let's get down to the pitch already. I want a good seat this game."

"It's a game where people fly in midair on broomsticks," said Alice. "There aren't really any bad seats."

"Come on, Alice, let's just go," said Frank, putting his arm around her and leading her out of the common room. Lily stood up from the comfortable sofa and made her way towards Remus, who was waiting for her by the portrait hole.

"You seem excited," said Remus sarcastically.

"Oh, yeah. Very." The two exited the portrait hole and began their walk down to the pitch.

"Come on, you've got to be excited to see Cammie play again."

"I am, I am."

"And Sirius. And James." Lily looked away. "Are you and James still not on good terms?"

Lily kept her eyes looking towards the ground. Her and James hadn't talked since their odd falling out two weeks earlier. Not that she cared, really. It just made for some awkward hours on duty together with their silence. Which was better, anyways. Of course it was.

"Come on, Lily. You know James means well."

"I know, I know."

"Then why do you keep putting all these defenses up?"

"What?" said Lily, lifting her head up to look at him. "What do you mean, defenses?"

"I mean, James hasn't been a prick to you yet this school year. He's trying hard to be someone that you can respect, but you can't respect that he's trying to change."

"Because he's only trying to change so he can charm me into being his girlfriend," Lily muttered.

"No, that would only be an added bonus," said Remus. "He's trying to change because he doesn't want to leave Hogwarts with you hating his guts. Imagine the awkward ten-year reunions that would ensue. If he can't have you as his girlfriend, he at least wants you as a part of his life."

"Remus," said Lily. "He doesn't actually know me at all. He just knows me as the smart girl who saved his life once with a bezoar. That's it. He has no idea what I'm really like."

"James likes a mystery."

Lily rolled her eyes and smirked. "Since when have you been pro-James?"

"Since I've seen the amount of effort he's put in to just be civil with you."

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"Okay, team. Listen up." James started pacing in the locker room. "As you all know, this is my last year to win the House Cup. As well as Cammie's and Sirius's. Yes, you younger players have a few more years of chances to win, but this is our last. And we want it badly. After this year, if we don't move on to play professionally, we won't be playing much at all. It's our last shot at this. So let's go out there and beat Hufflepuff and win the House Cup!"

"Yeah!" Sirius shouted. Everyone else shouted out their agreements, stood up, and started making their way out onto the pitch.

"Who's announcing today?" Cammie asked.

"Who knows," Sirius answered. He kissed her on the forehead. "Let's go kick ass."

It was the longest walk out onto the Quidditch pitch that Cammie had ever experienced. It was as though the exit from the locker room was kilometers away, and then getting to the goal posts was even further. When she finally reached them, her breathing cut short for a minute. She hadn't been this nervous since she was a fifth year. What was coming over her?

"Mount your brooms!" Madame Hooch suddenly cried out. Cammie practically clambered onto hers, almost tripping over it in the process. She heard someone snigger from the crowd. Hopefully it was Lily and not some Slytherin.

The whistle blew. Cammie kicked off from the ground and flew up to defend her hoops.

"And the game begins!" a boy's voice echoed. He hadn't hit puberty yet. "Potter with the Quaffle, hands it off to Smith, thrown back to Potter, who fakes a shot and passes to Morgan. Morgan readies to take the shot—beautiful bludger hit by Lerman."

Cammie took her eyes off the Quaffle for a split second to find their Seeker. It was a fourth year by the name of Jesse Simon. When she finally saw the timid boy, she noticed him circling the pitch, a worried expression on his face. Quickly, she returned her eyes to the game in front of her.

"Hufflepuff with the Quaffle. Troy passes to Jenkins. Pass to Troy—no, fake pass, real pass to Becker. Becker with the shot—saved by Legront! Legront passes to Potter—pass to Smith—Smith flying up the field with it—just a few feet from the Hufflepuff Keeper Jones—quick pass to Morgan—GRYFFINDOR SCORES!"

The stands started cheering. Cammie was starting to lose some of her nerves. She felt better.

"Becker with the Quaffle. Pass to Jenkins—pass to Becker—pass to Jenkins again—pass to Troy—Black hits Troy with a bludger before he can catch the Quaffle! Potter flies to catch it—passes to Smith—back to Potter—Quaffle to Morgan—Morgan with the shot—saved by Jones!"

Cammie could have sworn it was going in. Gryffindor only had a ten-point lead. It was dangerous.

"Troy with the Quaffle. Flies all the way up the field with it—where are all the Gryffindor Chasers? Readies to take his shot—bludger hit by Black hits him square in the chest! Troy knocked off his broomstick!"

Cammie looked over at Sirius as Smith flew low to retrieve the Quaffle. Sirius looked at her and flashed a smile. His award-winning grin. The smile that she'd fallen in love with two years prior and still couldn't go a day without thinking about.

No. This was a Quidditch game. There was no time to think about her relationship with Sirius.

But Gryffindor was dominating. She could think about it a little, right? About how all that was ever on her mind anymore was curling into his side and falling asleep in the warmth of his skin? Feeling his chest rising with every breath he took. Feeling his arms around her, knowing that she could never feel safer anywhere else.

She all of a sudden had no doubts in her mind about their relationship. Cammie knew that he was going to be the man she someday married. How could she have ever not thought that? She might be the youngest in her year, still sixteen, but she knew that she was going to be with Sirius forever, despite whatever obstacles came up.

_You know, he's held out for two years,_ she thought. _He could have left me when I told him I didn't want to have sex until marriage, but he didn't. He's been with me this whole time._

And she couldn't deny herself anymore. She wanted to have sex with the man she was in love with.

What weird thoughts to be having during the Quidditch match.

"Potter to Smith—back to Potter—POTTER SCORES! TEN POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR!"

Cammie looked at the scoreboard. Forty-to-zero. Wait, what? Where had she been for the other twenty?

"What's that? Hufflepuff Seeker Forman seems to have spotted the Snitch!"

Cammie turned her head to look up at the tiny shape of Forman's body flying in a straight dive, arm outstretched. Cammie groaned—just what they needed, a forty-point lead and the stupid Seeker on the other team to catch the Snitch. Then, out of nowhere, Jesse comes up from low on the pitch and cuts Forman off. Forman rolls over on his broom in midair a few times before falling the short five-foot fall to the grass. Jesse stretches his bony arm out, fingers reached so far they looked like they would fall out of their sockets—and his hand fell around the Snitch.

Cammie swooped down from the goalposts, cheering with the rest of the crowds. They'd done it! They won their first match and were on the way to winning the House Cup! They could do it!

Someone grabbed the end of her broomstick, stopping her in midair. She looked behind her to see Sirius, who cupped her cheek and kissed her right there. When they broke apart, Sirius half-smiled. "Had to do that at least once," he said, before speeding off to join the rest of the team in tackling Jesse to the ground in congratulations.

Cammie lightly touched her lips. She was the luckiest girl in the world.

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"It's time to PARTY!"

Cammie felt almost like she was in some sort of cheesy American high school movie. The Quidditch team made their dramatic entrance through the portrait hole to Gryffindor Tower, and there the entire house awaited. Someone had already snuck into Hogsmeade to get Butterbeer and Firewhisky. Someone else had gone down to the kitchens and brought back sweets to make everyone's mouth water. Alice had strung up a banner on the far wall that said "Gryffindor Quidditch On Top."

"You did it! You did it!" Alice screamed, running over to tackle Cammie. "You won the game!"

"Alice, I barely did anything," Cammie laughed. "I just hovered there."

"But you made that one save! You did contribute!"

Cammie laughed as Alice dragged her over to the beverages table and shoved a Butterbeer into her hands. The two clinked the bottles together before taking their first sip. "Where's Lily?" Cammie asked.

"Oh, just getting something from the dorms, I think," said Alice. "She's going to join, she said she was going to. I think Remus got to her today."

"Got to her about what?"

"About James. About how she's been the one being a prick lately."

"About time," said Cammie. "I mean, I love Lily to death, but give the boy a break already."

"Seriously. I mean, the Marauders aren't all bad. Look at Remus. And you're boyfriend Sirius, who has flipped his entire world upside down for you."

Cammie blushed a little and looked across the room to where Sirius was standing with James and the other Chaser, Carey. "Yeah, I've got the best boyfriend, huh?"

"You're thinking something," Alice said finally.

"What?"

"You have that look on your face. You've made a decision on something, I can just tell."

"I don't know what you're—"

"OH MY MERLIN, CAMMIE!" Alice dragged her over to the girl's dormitory and up the stairs. Lily was at the top. She had just put on some Muggle attire and seemed ready to head down when she saw the two of them appear.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Cammie wants to have sex with Sirius!"

"WHAT?"

"Okay, for the record," said Cammie, "I never actually said that."

"Cammie are you serious?" said Lily. "I mean, I mean, umm, are you sure? It's a big decision, you know. You can't just give away your virginity and take it back."

"I know, I know," said Cammie, shrugging. "It's just, well, he's the best guy I could ever ask for and all."

"And you're sure you don't want to wait until marriage?" Lily prompted.

"I don't…umm…well…"

"Oh, Cammie," said Alice, smiling cockily. "You're horny."

"Ew! Don't say that word, it's gross."

"You little prude," said Alice. She laughed. "I mean, you and Sirius have done everything else, so we all know you're horny."

"I mean, a little, I guess."

"Well, it's happening tonight, then, isn't it?" said Lily.

"It is?"

"Think about it. The dorms will be completely empty because everyone is in the common room partying. You two will have all the privacy you need."

"But this isn't romantic at all—"

"First time's are overrated," said Alice. "I mean, Frank and I first did it over summer in my room when all of my family was in the room downstairs."

"Ew, Alice, I did not want to hear that!" said Cammie.

"I'm just saying, nothing's ever going to be perfect for the first time. But if you really believe you're ready, then it will be fantastic."

"Wait, we need to do your make-up first," said Lily.

"And your hair!" Alice piped in.

"What's wrong with my hair?"

"It's up in a pony-tail. Ugh, come on, let's at least let the locks flow."

_ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff fffffffff_

"Come on, Frank," Sirius jested. "You can't tell us you accidentally burned off all your leg hair without showing us your leg."

"I'm embarrassed, man," said Frank, shrugging. "It's bad enough with Alice making fun of me all the time."

"You have to show us," said James. "Padfoot and I have to see. For research reasons."

"Wait, how'd you burn it all off?" said Sirius. "I think that's the better question."

"I'm not telling you."

"Come ON!" Sirius pouted. "We're your friends!"

"Please, Peter won't even tell you who he's dating because he doesn't trust you!" said Frank.

"Wait, did Peter tell you?" said Sirius.

"Where is Wormtail, anyways?" asked James, looking around the room.

But instead of seeing Peter, James saw a drunk Remus stumbling over to them.

"And Moony, how are thee?" asked Sirius, laughing.

"Absolu'ly fantastic," said Remus. "Firewhisky is stronger'n I 'member, mate."

"Is it a good thing or a bad thing?"

"I's a great thing!" Remus was smiling larger than anyone had ever seen. "Can—can I tell you guys something? It's a secret."

"Yeah, of course," said James.

"No, I mean, super secret," said Remus. "Come on, you lot, huddle up."

Frank rolled his eyes and smirked as he took a step closer to Remus.

"I think that fifth year on the team, Carey, is hot as _fuck_."

"Then go for her man," said Sirius. "You have our blessing."

"But she's young!"

"Does age matter in the end, really?" said James. "You deserve a night of fun, Moony. So go for it. And besides, you're not that drunk."

"Yeah, tha's true," said Remus. "'Kay. I'm goin' in." As he stumbled off, he ran into Cammie, who caught him by his shoulders. "Sorry," he slurred.

"Remus, are you drunk?" Cammie asked, laughing.

"Nahhhhhh." And off he went. Cammie shook her head, laughing, as she walked over to Sirius and the two other boys.

"Hey, babe," said Sirius, kissing her on the cheek. "This is the first I've seen you all night!"

"Well, you know, wanted to look a little nicer for a party," said Cammie, shrugging.

"Of course," said Sirius, rolling his eyes. "But for the record, I think you look lovely at all times of the day."

"Cheese-ball alert," said James, fake-gagging. "I'm going to follow Remus and make sure he doesn't make a fool of himself."

"Yeah, and I'll come with," said Frank, shaking his head in disgust and following after James.

"Whatever," said Sirius, pretending to shoo them away. "Who needs them anyways?"

"Not us," said Cammie. She bit her lip nervously. "So, I have a surprise for you."

"You do?"

"Yep."

"What is it?"

"You'll have to go up to your dormitory to find out."

"Well, then, let's head up," said Sirius, smiling. Cammie took his hand and led him all the way up there. The walk up the stairs were silent. A tension rose. An odd one. When the door opened to the dormitory, Sirius saw nothing there. The door closed behind them. They were alone. "What is it?"

"Well, I've been thinking," said Cammie, making her way over to Sirius's bed. She was going to sit on it, but her nerves got the best of her and she walked back towards Sirius. "I mean, well, umm. I…well, I…umm…do you have a condom?"

"Wait, what?"

"Are condoms even a thing in the wizarding world? I don't know, maybe there's some sort of magical protection or—"

But before she could finish her sentence, Sirius took a step and closed the gap between him and Cammie. He took both of her hands in his and tried to make eye contact, while she avoided his gaze and looked at the ground. "Cammie. We've talked about this. We don't have to do this. You know I'll wait forever if it means that I get to call myself your boyfriend."

"I know, I know, and I think you're the best for that, and for everything, and really, I just love you so much, but…I want this. I really want this."

"Why? What's with the sudden change of mind?"

Cammie looked up at him. "I'm so madly in love with you, Sirius Black. There is no one else that I will ever be as in love with as I am with you. And I just can't wait another minute. This is what I want."

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked. "You're absolutely positive?"

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

Sirius smiled as he looked into her eyes. "Cammie Legront, I love you more than anything in the whole entire world."

Cammie smiled widely as Sirius's hands moved to her waist and pulled her in for the kiss to begin their night.

_ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff fffffffffffffffffff_

"Wait, maybe…I should practice firs'," Remus was saying. "I sound drunk, don' I?"

"That's because you are drunk, mate," said Frank. "Yeah, maybe we should practice acting a little sober."

"Couldn't hurt," said James, shrugging.

"Remus, repeat after me," said Frank. "Carey."

"Carey."

"That wasn't bad," said James. "The emphasis was in all the right places."

"Okay, onto the next part," said Frank. "Repeat after me again: I think you're very pretty."

"But—but I wanna tell 'er she's hot," said Remus.

"Okay, now you're sounding drunk again," said Frank. "Not all girls like being called hot, Remus."

"But Carey's hot. She should know it."

"Just tell her she's pretty."

"No, she's hot an' sexy and that's all I wanna tell 'er."

"Carey's gonna slap him," said James, laughing.

"Whatever," said Frank. "Repeat after me again: I think you're hot and sexy."

"I think yerr hot an' sexy," said Remus. His eyes widened as he saw something behind James. "Oh! Look! I's Evans!"

"Since when do you call her Evans?" said James, smirking.

"I can call 'er wha'ever I wanna call 'er," said Remus. "Evans Evans Evanssssss."

"This just keeps getting more entertaining," Frank mumbled to James, who laughed as he turned around to greet Lily.

"Why hello there," he said.

"Hi," said Lily. "I just wanted to say, good game. Since, you know, we're acquaintances now and all."

"Are we?" said James. "Lils, you've barely spoken to me in weeks. I wouldn't say that's very acquaintance-like."

"I know. Sorry."

"Why the apology now?"

"Because I've decided you're right. We're Head Boy and Head Girl. We should at least get along."

James smiled cockily. "So you're saying I've been doing the right thing this whole time?"

"Don't let it give you a big head," said Lily, rolling her eyes.

"Then drink to it with me," said James. He grabbed two Butterbeers from the table behind him and handed one to her as Frank took Remus off to the other side of the common room.

"Wait, what?"

"We'll cross our arms and drink to it," said James. "To our friendship."

"I mean, I think I said acquaintances—"

"No, no, no. We're going to be friends. Okay, Lily Evans?"

James held his arm out, ready to link with hers before they took their first sip. Lily stared at it for a moment before smiling as she gave in. "Okay, James Potter. To our friendship."

James broke out into a goofy grin as their arms crossed and they took their sip. But just then, the Gryffindor portrait hole opened and Professor McGonagall crossed the threshold into the common room. McGonagall's gaze fell upon the two taking their sip, as they were right next to the entrance. Lily quickly hid the bottle behind her back, even though it wasn't technically against school rules to be drinking Butterbeer in the castle.

But McGonagall didn't look angry. No, there was a panicked expression on her face as she made her way over to the two. "Potter, may I have a word?"

"Of course, Professor," said James.

"Do you need me as well, Professor?" Lily asked.

"No, just Potter this time."

Lily seemed a little put out that McGonagall didn't need her. James noticed. "Whatever you need to tell me, you can tell Lily, too," he said. "She's Head Girl, she has a right to know whatever it is."

"Potter—"

"I mean, we're both of equal importance," said James. He made it clear that he was not going to move an inch further, and McGonagall must have noticed for she stopped trying to usher him out of the portrait hole.

"Very well," she said, sighing. "Potter—James, I'm very sorry, but your parents have just been murdered."


End file.
